A little less than a month after the F-35 fighter jets arrived in South Burlington, the Vermont Air National Guard held a ceremony Saturday to officially welcome the planes to town.
The basing of the F-35s in Vermont has been in the works for more than a decade. But in September, the first two of 20 planes hit the tarmac at the Burlington Airport, with the rest scheduled to arrive incrementally over the next nine months.
Vermont Air National Guard leaders were joined by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and Gov. Phil Scott, along with hundreds of Air National Guardsmen and their families to celebrate the new technology.
The basing was celebrated by politicians and the Guard as a critical piece of technology for modern warfare.
The new generation of jet fighters have met with local resistance. Residents and local leaders of Winooski and South Burlington say louder jet noise could harm children and drive down property values.
“I’ve advocated fiercely in Washington for a national defense strategy that works with both diplomacy and development abroad” Leahy said. “But also the ability to defend our home against any threat it may face.”
The technology has changed dramatically since the arrival of F-16s in Vermont 30 years ago, Leahy said.
“I think most Vermonters agree, as I do, that we need an air defense,” Leahy said. “We need an Air Force. We need tech that keeps us ahead of the rest of the world.”
Joseph Lengyel, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said the F-35s will allow the United States to project military might.
“The F-16 can no longer guarantee that for our nation,” he said.
So far, 430 F-35s have been delivered to bases nationwide, according to Greg Ulmer, vice president of the program at Lockheed Aeronautics.
Vermont is the first Air National Guard base to receive the planes.
One of the major differences between the F-35 and the F-16 is the way technical information is accessed. Pilots can get data inside their helmets, as opposed to a dashboard on the plane itself, Ulmer said.
Lt. Col. Nate Graber, one of the pilots who has been flying the F-35s, said the feeling of flying the new jets isn’t that different from the F-16s. His transition to the new plane was seamless, Graber said.
Graber said he is looking forward to the rest of the planes coming to Vermont so that he can watch younger pilots try their hand at the new technology.
“Today’s especially important because it’s really the day we get to share this with the whole 158th fighter wing,” he said. “The day we first flew them in was very mission-oriented. Today is about being able to say hooray and get everyone clapping and having a good time.”
The Guard expects to have a full arsenal of F-35s in place by June 2020.
