Short Factsheet
Vermont Says No to the F35: Here is Why
We can stop the Pentagon’s plan to base F35 fighter bombers at the Burlington International
Airport. The whole F35 project should be canceled. Here is why.
Loud and Polluting: The F35 is extremely loud. By the Air Force’s own estimates twice as loud as the F16.
Its noise is so high that more affordable houses in the historic neighborhood near the airport will have to be torn down.
Its noise will disrupt learning at elementary schools located as
close as 1⁄2 mile from the runway. The F35 will degrade our air quality. In fact the Air Force prefers
the Vermont location because our air is now so clean that this plane’s massive pollution will not
degrade air quality to a dangerous level. But Vermonters like good air quality, and we do not want
our air quality degraded at all. The most densely populated part of Vermont is not the place to base
this weapon.
Squandering of Resources: The F35 unconscionably squanders desperately needed resources.
Current Pentagon estimates are that the overall F35 program will cost over $400 billion for the
planes and twice that for maintenance. The 18 planes based in Vermont would cost over $3 billion.
This money should be used for education, health care, renewable energy, pensions, roads, bridges
and other needed public services. Our hard earned tax dollars should not be wasted to enrich military contractors at a
time of record unemployment, huge state budget deficits, and millions of
people losing their homes.
Instrument of War: The F35 is designed for making war in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The F35 has no plausible use for defending Vermonters or anyone else. In town meetings Vermont towns and cities
voted overwhelmingly against the war in Iraq and that the best way to support our troops is to bring them home now.
Nationally, 69{33979494efa9b9c28f844b5c37a1ddedf4bb90a2eb3dac7a83ede58b7eac2e67} of Americans oppose the Iraq war and 62{33979494efa9b9c28f844b5c37a1ddedf4bb90a2eb3dac7a83ede58b7eac2e67} oppose the Afghan war according to an August 17, 2010 CNN poll.
Even if we assume that someone will attack the US, having these weapons makes the Burlington Airport and surrounding towns a
target for such an attack.
More Dangerous World: Not just Vermonters will be more at risk. Weapons like the F35 also
put US troops in more danger as they make wars more likely. Vermonters oppose deploying our soldiers
overseas in yet more foreign wars, like the illegal and immoral US war and occupation in Iraq. Such
wars and occupations have harmed our soldiers and have not benefited US citizens. They have increased
anger toward U.S. policies. They may contribute to “blow back” revenge attacks that put us all in danger.
And they have cost us trillions of dollars. Aggressive wars and weapons like the F35 do not promote freedom
in other countries or in the US. In fact, our civil liberties have steadily eroded.
The F35 is Not a Jobs Program: The Air Force stated that it will reduce personnel in Vermont
regardless of whether the F35 is based in Vermont. We need creation of jobs to serve useful
purposes. The F35 program diverts hundreds of billions of needed dollars. This waste should not be
allowed when teachers and state workerswho actually contribute to community welfareare being
laid off in record numbers.
We ask our Congressional delegation and all Vermont elected officials: stand with the majority
of Vermonters and oppose the F35 and its basing at the Burlington airport. We have had enough of
endless war, trillions of dollars wasted, and our soldiers coming home wounded or not at all. We
want to keep our clean air. We want noise reduction at the airport, not even louder planes. We want
more affordable housing, not more houses demolished to meet larger noise and pollution zones. We
will not sacrifice what is great about Vermont to enrich military contractors. We say that the Federal
Government should cancel the F35 and send our share of the money to Vermont for useful
purposes.
To contact the Stop the F35 Coalition for more information or to join the campaign, call
802.309.4824 or email [email protected].