No F-35s due for Shaw
State officials expect jets in next round
By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER
COLUMBIA -- Although South Carolina wasn't picked Thursday by the Air Force as a site for its next-generation F-35 fighter jet, state officials said they expect to remain in the running for the next round of bases chosen.
In Washington, the Air Force announced Thursday that bases in Arizona, Florida, Utah and Vermont will host the pricey new Joint Strike Fighter.
Shaw Air Force Base outside Sumter and McEntire Joint National Guard Base near Eastover were named as potential sites in 2009. The aircraft is due to arrive at some bases in 2014 or 2015.
"We're obviously disappointed, but it's important to remember that today's announcement is not the last chapter in the F-35 story for South Carolina," Gov. Mark Sanford said in a statement.
South Carolina Adjutant General Stan Spears said that while he would have preferred to be on the initial list, he's confident F-35s will fly out of McEntire Joint National Guard Base in the coming years.
"Right now, we don't have specifics on when additional candidate bases will be announced," Spears said. "We currently have the newest and most capable F-16s in the United States Air Force and will continue to be an elite fighting force."
A former Shaw commander, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Tom Olsen of Sumter, said he was not surprised.
"We're in the running for the next selection," said Olsen, who was the No. 2 Air Force commander in the Persian Gulf during the first war against Iraq. "We never expected to be in the first round."
Olsen said the choice of Hill Air Force Base in Utah "makes sense" since it also will be a depot for the futuristic aircraft. Luke Air Force Base in Arizona has been an Air Force teaching base since World War II, Olsen added.
"While I wish today's news had been different, I am confident it is only a matter of when, not if, we get F-35s," U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a news release.
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