Air Force to study Fort Worth reserve base and three others for placing F-35 squadron

The Air Force is moving closer to putting a squadron of F-35 Lightning II fighter jets at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth.

The Air Force will host a public meeting from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. April 19 at the Cendera Center, 3600 Benbrook Highway, to discuss an environmental impact study that will be conducted. The study will determine if the operation of 24 F-35 aircraft will have an impact on the surrounding land.

The Air Force is seeking comments from local, state and federal agencies, elected officials and others to determine the scope of the impact study.

Similar meetings will be held in April at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, and Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Those three bases are being considered as alternatives to Fort Worth.

A year ago, the Air Force said the NAS Fort Worth was its top pick, in part because of its location next to the Lockheed Martin plant in west Fort Worth where the stealth fighter is being built. The F-35s are expected to begin arriving in the mid-2020's.

This article contains information from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published March 26, 2018 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Air Force to study Fort Worth reserve base and three others for placing F-35 squadron."