The U.S. Air Force has identified four candidate bases that could house the first set of first Reserve-led F-35 fighter jets and a set of criteria to find potential bases for two Air National Guard squadrons that will receive F-35A variants.
The Air Force said Tuesday it will announce its choice in the fall between Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona; Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida; Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas and Whiteman AFB, Missouri.
The first Reserve-led location and the Air National Guard squadrons will start to receive their F-35A aircraft in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Criteria to select candidate bases for the squadrons includes mission requirements, space and facility features, environmental requirements and cost considerations.
Candidate bases will be chosen from Guard installations with runways of approximately 8,000 feet and operational A-10, F-16 or F-15.
Air Force leaders will identify installations in the summer and those locations will be subsequently visited by the Air Combat Command and Air National Guard to perform site surveys.
