On Thursday, the efforts to stop a regiment of F-35 fighter planes at Barnes Air National Guard Base reached a milestone administratively.
The , Air Force , posted its , last economic impact statement , detailing how the cutting-edge , F-35A Thunder II fighter , planes would change the place around Westfield. The study’s official launch date was scheduled for Friday.
Detailing sound, customers, pollutants and other environmental impacts, the report sets the stage for Air Force Secretary , Frank Kendall III , to mark the site’s record of decision following a 30-day waiting period required by federal law. A document signing in mid-December may ease the burden of bureaucracy for a job that has been praised by local authorities while the Biden administration is in power.
U. S.  , Rep.  , Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, Gov.  , Maura T. Healey , and , U. S.  , Sen.  , Elizabeth Warren, all , Democrats, advocated difficult for the military to train F-35s in Westfield. But so, also, did past Gov.  , Charlie Baker, a Republican who voiced his differences with President-elect , Donald Trump , in Trump’s first name.
Noise effects in the vicinity of the airfield may be substantial, according to the last statement. It says 885 families totaling 2, 406 people may experience a actionable increase in sounds according to , Federal Aviation Administration , conditions.
The place impacted by sound, with 65 degrees as the threshold, may increase. The development would mostly be north of the airport, keeping with current journey patterns and a takeoff-oriented approach to Westfield.
The base’s representatives explained that the F-35’s increased strength, in contrast to the F-15, may lessen sounds impacts at a public meeting held as part of the environmental evaluation.
With all that authority, planes will be less likely to use the plane’s afterburners.
” I think the , Air Guard , has done a really good job with respect to noise”, said Mayor , Michael McCabe.
He cited neighborhood neighborhood meetings where attendees could move from desk to stand.
The impact statement includes formal communications, including a 2022 text from the , Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife , concerned about the impact of martial building plants and animals on the country’s endangered record.
The effects statement states that Barnes ‘ aircraft’s impact on animals may be minimal, though.
Wildlife or special status species are unlikely to suffer from noises caused by building activities and/or plane operations because they are already susceptible to disruptions from already-existing training and flight operations, according to the report.
However, the report says effects to air quality and the water “would not be substantial”.
The , Air Force , announced in , April 2023 , its plans to center 18 of its F-35 soldiers at the Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing, replacing a ship of aging F-15s. The decision may safeguard the It base’s financial viability and its decades-long involvement in the country’s air defense.
Two planes from the 104th are in , Florida , then training on the F-35, and lots of other Protect people are learning to operate on the plane.
The first F-35 is slated to arrive in , June 2026.
The jets ‘ arrival is also expected to add about$ 55 million in , military-funded construction , at the base.
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