The Air Force announced Tuesday that Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is among four bases that will be considered as a base for a Reserve F-35A Lightning II fighter squadron by 2023.
The other bases under consideration are Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida; Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas; and Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri, the Air Force said in a news release.
The “preferred and reasonable alternatives” are expected to be selected in the fall and the F-35As are slated to begin arriving at the first Reserve-led F-35A location by the summer of 2023.
The Air Force also released basing criteria that will be used to select candidate bases for two Air National Guard squadrons, which are planned to receive their first aircraft in the summer of 2022.
Local military supporters and government officials have been looking for future missions as the Air Force has moved to retire its mainstay contingent of A-10 Thunderbolt II come air support jets. The Air Force has said it will delay the A-10 fleet’s final retirement until 2022, but D-M could start losing come of its A-10s by 2018.
Neighborhood activists have opposed the basing of the F-35 at D-M, arguing that the Air Force’s loudest plane is unsuitable for the urban air base. A pending lawsuit by three activists seeks to halt an increase in training flights at D-M approved by the Air Force last year.
