F-22s and T-38s at Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport

Based on Air Force social media posts earlier this year, the 2025 William Tell air superiority competition was supposed to begin this week at the Air National Guard Air Dominance Center at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP. I had no radio time earlier this week and minimal radio time the last couple of days, but it seems that there is no William Tell competition this year. Instead, there are 71st FS F-22As and 7th FTS T-38As from Joint Base Langley at the Air Dominance Center. They have been working with 95th FS F-35As from Tyndall AFB and 159th FS F-35As from Jacksonville in the Special Use Areas off the Georgia coast. I'm guessing they'll be here next week as well, so here's what I was able to hear yesterday and today.

Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; August 2025

During August, I didn't have as much radio time as I would have liked, but I heard more than I expected to with the time I had. The 77th FS from Shaw AFB was very active at Townsend Range and the Coastal MOA in coastal Georgia for much of the month. The F/A-18s, F-35Bs, and F-5s at MCAS Beaufort along with some F-35Cs from VMFA-251 at MCAS Cherry Point were involved in several LFEs (Large Force Exercises) off the Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida coast and I caught a new intercept control callsign - GRIM - which I'm guessing is VMFT-402's Red Air Control. Some of those same units at MCAS Beaufort, along with ATAC, were apparently conducting a MDTC (Marine Division Tactics Course as well. Mid-month, I took an overnight road trip to the Jacksonville area, but it was on a weekend, so it didn't yield much MilCom activity. During the trip, I toured the museum ship USS Orleck (DD-886) and the Camp Blanding Museum.  

September should be a fun MilCom month in coastal Georgia; the 2025 William Tell air superiority competition is scheduled for 9-18 September 2025 at the Georgia Air National Guard Air Dominance Center at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP.

The radio room on board the museum ship USS Orleck (DD-886) in Jacksonville, FL