VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — City leaders in Virginia Beach are making a push to make sure the future of air defense ends up at the East Coast Master Jet Base NAS Oceana with the rollout of the F-35 fighter jet.
If you live in Virginia Beach, you know about jet noise and how NAS Oceana is home to hundreds of aircraft including the F-18 Super Hornet.
"We have the F-18s but they won't be in service forever and there will be a next generation of aircraft that will be coming out," Vice Mayor of Virginia Beach, Rosemary Wilson, said. "We need to show the Navy that we are welcoming and open to the future aircraft coming forward."
Part of that future is the use of F-35s being manufactured by Lockheed Martin in Texas.
Some of those fighters have been positioned on the West Coast but none have been slated to make their way to Oceana just yet.
That's why Wilson and Mayor Boby Dyer have created a resolution telling the Navy the city supports bringing in new aircraft.
State leaders like Rep. Jen Kiggans are also trying to show the Navy our runways are ready.
"They would go first to Lemoore so we don't want to be left out of the equation here on the East Coast just because we know that when we get new aircraft we want to be tip of the spear," Kiggans said. "Mission-driven as well thinking what our mission is on the East Coast as well as the West Coast."
Oceana plays a vital role in the economy of the Resort City, as well.
"It's 13,000 jobs but also with every job there's a family and then there's also the businesses that help support that," Wilson said. "If we lost Oceana which we could have in 2005 it would have a huge impact on our city."
Kiggans said that the new air defense could mean better access to defense dollars to be used to improve infrastructure, housing, and child care for military families.
"You know the F-18's NAS Cecil Field, they closed Cecil Field in Jacksonville and they came up here," Kiggans said. "We saw that we needed housing to go along with it, we needed hangar upgrades, infrastructure improvements so we still need those things we have a base that continues to need to be revitalized."
Kiggans said these new jets won't just fly in overnight and it's a process that could take years.
There are permitting that needs to be done but Kiggans feels this resolution helps to show the city is ready.
"We want to get that ball rolling so we can make sure that we're just staying relevant, staying in the discussion, we know they're going to Lemoore, we need them here at Oceana as well," Kiggans said.
Wilson said the resolution will likely be presented at city council's July 2 meeting.
