Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, is the service’s top pick to grow to be the subsequent energetic duty home of the F-35A Lightning II fighter.
The Air Force said Monday it plans to bring two F-35 squadrons to the Valdosta base starting in fiscal 2029, when it hopes to finish phasing out its fleet of A-10C Thunderbolt II attack planes.
The service must first study the proposed move’s environmental impact on the encompassing area before formally green-lighting the project. That review is slated to complete in fall 2025.
Switching missions at Moody isn’t expected to create any latest jobs on base, the Air Force said, even though it had previously announced that the U.S.’s most advanced fighter jet would usher in one other 500 or so staff.
It’s unclear what other bases were regarded as a part of the method.
Winding down much of America’s combat operations overseas has prompted a big shift in Moody’s missions at home. For nearly twenty years, the bottom’s A-10s watched over ground troops and strafed enemy forces with the Warthog’s iconic, armor-piercing 30mm gun.
Moody airmen also flew search-and-rescue missions in Afghanistan because the early days of the U.S. invasion and trained Afghan pilots on the A-29 Super Tucano ground attack aircraft to construct the country’s fledgling air force.
The Air Force’s plan to swap A-10s for F-35s at Moody is emblematic of the Pentagon’s pivot from its longtime War on Terror to as a substitute give attention to military competition with China.
The service argues that the Warthog fleet should be retired since it is ill-equipped to face off against advanced air defenses, stealth jets and the vast distances of the Pacific. Critics say the A-10 can perform the close air support mission much better than the F-35, which was designed because the high-tech “quarterback” of the battlefield moderately than to hunt convoys.
Georgia lawmakers hailed the choice as a long-term investment within the region’s military community because the country’s priorities change.
“This can be a major step forward in our ongoing effort to strengthen and sustain Moody Air Force Base for many years to return,” Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, said in a release Monday. “I’ll proceed to champion Moody AFB and its future as a house for U.S. Air Force tactical aviation.”
“For many years Moody AFB has been key for our nation’s defense,” Republican Rep. Austin Scott, who represents the bottom’s district, said on Twitter. “I’m pleased that Secretary Kendall has chosen Moody as the popular location for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Moody is proud to keep up a fighter mission, carrying its strong legacy long into the twenty first century.”
Energetic duty F-35 units already handle test, training and combat operations from Edwards Air Force Base in California, Nellis AFB in Nevada, Luke AFB in Arizona, Hill AFB in Utah, Eglin AFB in Florida, Eielson AFB in Alaska and RAF Lakenheath in England. Three more squadrons will start arriving at Tyndall AFB, Florida, this summer.
In May, the service announced that the Oregon National Guard will likely host the Air Force’s third F-35A training squadron at Kingsley Field, pending an environmental study. The choice would bring 20 jets but no latest jobs to the installation.
“The Air Force needs F-35 squadrons available and fully mission-capable to prevail against peer adversaries,” the Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing said in a release. “Meaning they require more F-35 pilots. Team Kingsley’s adaptability and excellence allows us to fill this Air Force need.”
The U.S. plans to buy 2,470 F-35s overall, greater than 1,700 of which can be flown by the Air Force. The jets remain the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program, at greater than $1.7 trillion to purchase, operate and maintain, the Government Accountability Office said last yr.
Rachel Cohen joined Air Force Times as senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in Air Force Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy, the Frederick News-Post (Md.), the Washington Post, and others.