In addition to the new F-35s in southern Oregon, the Air Force is planning to deliver an additional nine F-15EX Eagle II aircraft to an airbase near Portland.
Beginning next year, Kingsley Field, home to the Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing, will be part of the transition to the F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation fighter jet. The airbase, located near the city of Klamath Falls along Oregon’s southern border with California, will host a squadron of F-35As, the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variants of the Joint Strike Fighter. The facility will also help train additional pilots on the fifth-generation stealth fighter.
“This is a historic day for the 173rd Fighter Wing, and the Klamath Basin,” said Col. Adam Gaudinski, 173rd Fighter Wing commander, in a media release. “Twenty-six F-35s will call Kingsley Field home, and with them comes a mission of national importance. From Southern Oregon, we will produce the next generation of F-35 pilots who will carry America’s fifth-generation airpower into combat and defend our nation for years to come.”…