/ Modified mar 27, 2018 10:54 a.m.

Battle Over F-35s Returns to Tucson

Opposition group gears up to resume fight against stealth jet.

F-35 Luke AFB An F-35A Lightning II lands at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix, Arizona, April 2016.
Staci Miller, U.S. Air Force

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is again on a short list of bases to house the military's newest fighter jet, the F-35.

D-M plans an open house from 5 to 8 p.m. on April 24 at the Tucson Convention Center, 260 South Church Ave. Residents can review the environmental impact statement and discuss with Air Force officials the plan for moving 24 of the jets to Tucson, replacing 24 older A-10 aircraft.

A YouTube video shows an F-35 flying over the city of Leeawurden, in the Netherlands, in a demonstration staged to show how noise from the jet would compare with that from the F-16, which is already stationed at the city's air base.

The report from those tests shows residents judged the F-35 as the louder of the two, though results from scientific instruments were mixed. However, there's no dispute that the F-35 is much louder than the A-10 jet now stationed at D-M.

The Air Force's first choice is to station them in Fort Worth, Texas. Bases in Florida and Missouri are also on the short list.

A group called Tucson Forward, which opposed a similar proposal two years ago, is already gearing up to fight the new plan. According to a post on its Facebook page, it's planning a meeting this week to organize its opposition to the new plan.

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