Associated Press
April 18, 2022

Arrival of final 2 F-35s completes complement at Alaska base

The final two F-35A Joint Strike Fighter jets have arrived at Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, completing the full complement of 54 aircraft.

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The base was selected in 2016 to host F-35s, spawning a base expansion that cost more than a half billion dollars and includes 36 new buildings and 54 housing units for the F-35s….

The Air Force says the fifth generation F-35 represents a “quantum leap” in air combat capability.

Combined with two squadrons of F-22s at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska will have more operational fifth generation assets than anywhere else in the world….

“Gen. Billy Mitchell talked about it in the 1930’s, that whoever holds Alaska, holds the world….”

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With the capability to fly more than 12 hours at a time, the F-35s can reach almost anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere in one mission.