HILL AIR FORCE BASE — The skies above Hill Air Force Base will be busier than normal throughout August as the U.S. Air Force conducts two readiness exercises.

Hill’s active duty 388th Fighter Wing, the Reserve 419th Fighter Wing and 86th Fighter Weapons Squadron will participate in an air-to-ground exercise known as Combat Hammer and an air-to-air exercise known as Combat Archer, which started Monday and will last until Aug. 24, according to a base news release.

In addition to increased arrivals and departures, residents nears the base may notice aircraft flying during the night hours so pilots can “sharpen their night-time combat flying skills,” the release said.

Night flying operations are scheduled to end around 10 p.m.

“The goal of Combat Hammer is to evaluate the effectiveness, maintainability, suitability, and accuracy of precision guided air-to-ground munitions,” the air force said in the release. “Combat Archer evaluates air-to-air weapons systems in live-fire, combat-like environments to improve training, readiness, and effectiveness.”

As part of the weapon evaluations, aircraft will travel to the Utah Test and Training Range in the west desert to drop munitions. Data will be collected during these drops to determine how the weapons perform and their sustainability for use in combat, the air force said.

Aircraft participating in the exercises include F-35As from Hill AFB, F-15s from Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, and F-16s from Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida and Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.