Study backs Luke for F-35 training mission - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Study backs Luke for F-35 training mission

PHOENIX — Luke Air Force Base in suburban Phoenix is one step closer to receiving at least 72 new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

A draft environmental impact statement released by the Air Force on Friday sticks with Luke as the preferred alternative for flight training for F-35 pilots. It identifies slightly higher noise levels as the biggest impacts of the fighter.

The Air Force plans a series of public meetings to take comments on the plan next month and expects to make a final decision in July. The meetings will be held in Litchfield Park, Sun City, El Mirage and in Gila Bend, site of an auxiliary air field where the F-35 pilots will also train.

Getting the new jets is critical to Luke because its current fleet of F-16s will be phased out when the F-35 comes into service starting in about 2015.

The city of Glendale wants area residents to attend those meetings and support Luke, because the loss of the base’s mission would not only drastically reduce its financial impact but impact thousands of military retirees who rely on the base to provide various services.

“Luke Air Force Base generates about $2 billion for the entire state of Arizona,” Glendale city spokesman Jerry McCoy said. “It would not only be a big hit for the West Valley but for the entire state of Arizona” if the bases didn’t win the F-35 squadrons.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has strongly supported Luke as an F-35 base and applauded the Air Force decision.

Luke beat out Gowen Field in Boise, Idaho; Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.; and Tucson International Airport for the preferred pilot training base when the Air Force made its tentative decision in 2010.

Operational missions of the single-engine jets were tentatively assigned to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and the Burlington Air Guard Station, Vt.

The 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., has been chosen as the primary pilot training site, with Luke identified as the secondary training site.

Luke’s 56th Fighter Wing currently has 135 F-16 fighters and graduates more than 400 fighter pilots a year. It is the world’s largest F-16 base.