District not worried about influx from F-35 squadrons

[unhappycamper]

http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news/district-not-worried-about-influx-from-f--squadrons/article_15369f74-3274-11e4-ab91-001a4bcf6878.html



District not worried about influx from F-35 squadrons
By Weston Morrow
Posted: Tuesday, September 2, 2014 12:00 am

FAIRBANKS — The likely stationing of 48 F-35 Lightning II aircraft at Eielson Air Force Base would have a significant impact on the community in nearby North Pole, one of which could be a rapid influx of school-aged children moving to the area.

The U.S. Air Force announced earlier this month that Eielson would be the new home of two squadrons of the F-35 Lightning II fighters pending the assessment of an Environmental Impact Study, which the military branch performs prior to all of its re-basing moves.

Barring an unforeseen complication in the impact study, the area in and around the base will begin seeing an expansion of military families in the next several years as the Air Force begins moving resources north.

The base currently employs about 3,000 service members and civilian employees. Many of those employees service the base’s population of 21 F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. The arrival of the two F-35 squadrons — each of which includes 24 airplanes — would mean a likely doubling of the base’s workforce.

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Now that the price of the F-35C is approaching the cost of the F-22 ( $418,000,000 ) foreign nations are asking themselves if they can afford it.