VIRGINIA BEACH — Hardly a day goes by in Virginia Beach when aircraft don’t fly overhead. The U.S. Navy’s East Coast master jet base sits in the middle of the city, and its civilian neighbors inevitably grow accustomed to the rumbles in the sky.
“We coexist,” said Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson.
Naval Air Station Oceana is currently home to F/A-18 Super Hornets, but they eventually will be replaced by a more advanced fighter jet: the F-35.
The F-35 is the Department of Defense’s most advanced and costly weapon system, according to the Government Accountability Office, an audit institution of the federal government. Each aircraft cost more than $100 million. The defense department has about 630 F-35s and plans to buy about 1,800 more. Lockheed Martin, with partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems, lead development of the F-35s.
Wilson said she wants Oceana to stick around for a long time and has proposed a resolution, along with other City Council members, showing support for the Navy to bring new, advanced aircraft to Virginia Beach.
The City Council will vote on the resolution Tuesday.
The idea came after Wilson said she had a conversation with Rep. Jen Kiggans, who is a former U.S. Navy pilot.
“She’d (Kiggans) been seeing that a lot of the new planes were going to the West Coast,” said Wilson.
Even though it could be years before the Navy’s advanced aircraft, the F-35C Lightning II, could come to Oceana, Wilson wants…
