MARK WAITE / PVT Air Force Capt. Kurt Helphinstine, of the USAF Weapons School briefs Nye County commissioners Tuesday on the planned exercises in and over Pahrump. Advertisement

BEATTY -- The Air Force plans to use the skies above Pahrump regularly for twice-annual training exercises, following the first two exercises this past year, Nye County commissioners were told Tuesday.

It staged aerial exercises over Pahrump last May without alerting local officials. That led to an Air Force briefing before the second round last November, when commissioners were told Strike Eagle pilots flying F-15 aircraft would cruise at altitudes of 7,000 feet or more above ground, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. over a three-day period.

"It gives us an opportunity to train in a dense urban environment we don't have the ability to do in the Nellis Air Force Range," Capt. Kurt Helphinstine of the Air Force Weapons School said.

A pair of Chinook helicopters will land at Calvada Meadows air strip to discharge ground crews. The noisy helicopters won't be used over town, Helphinstine said.

"We're flying as high as we can to keep the noise down," he said.

Other countries will be involved in the exercise, including the United Kingdom, he said. The aircraft will include the Reaper, based at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Helphinstine said.

The Reaper is the younger yet larger and stronger brother of the unmanned Predator drone.

The plan is to stage the exercises every May and November, Helphinstine said.

Joint terminal attack controllers, on the ground, will alert crews in four to six aircraft flying over Pahrump about mock enemy forces traveling through town.

"What's really happening in the war on terror in Baghdad, for instance -- you have known enemies traveling through town and we'd like to have our forces intercept them," Helpinstine said.

The military personnel taking part in the exercise won't be in uniform, won't be traveling in military vehicles and won't be armed, he said.

"It should be pretty transparent they're there, but there will be a little bit of a noise signature," Helphinstine said.

During the last exercise pilots could be noticed in the sky if someone was looking for them. There was some slight jet noise noticeable on the ground.

Nye County Commissioner Butch Borasky asked the air force for more notice before the exercises begin, so as not to alarm residents.

"We have a lot of elderly people who get nervous when they hear aircraft," Borasky said.