F-35's May Come to Vermont

The Burlington Air Guard station is one of several locations across the country being considered for placement of the behind-schedule F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program.

Air Force officials paid a visit to Littleton High School last week to provide information about the possibility of the F-35 joint strike fighter being based in Burlington.

Littleton may be far from the Air Guard station, however it lies directly under one of the prime training airspaces for jets based out of the in Burlington. Colonel Dick Harris of the U.S. Air force had his to say,

"Well it's not that far, about two hours. Above New Hampshire and Maine there's airspace that we would train in with the F-35 so as part of the reach-out to the community we wanted to go to different areas where we had airspace above the communities."

The F-35's would be based in Burlington but perform much of their training in airspace over Maine, northern New Hampshire and northeastern Vermont. In New Hampshire and Vermont, the jets would be required to stay above 10,000 feet minimizing noise and pollution on the ground.

There are already 18 older F-16 jets stationed at the base and the air force wants to bring in another 18 or 24 F-35s but is first conducting the open forums in communities around the country near training airspaces. Seabury Lyon, a Bethel, Maine resident finds that communication is key,

"It gives us a chance to talk to other different military representatives and technical people and fill them in on our concerns; sensitivity is one...quality of life impacts, and the safety issue."

After this round of open forums, Air Force officials will return this summer for a more formal hearing to discuss results of environmental impact reports and more detailed information on the possible placement of the jets in Burlington. With a 300 billion dollar budget, the F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program.