Feminists work to achieve political, economic, personal, and social rights for women. The F-35 will negatively affect the economic, personal, and social rights of women. Specifically, Vermont women (and their children) are disproportionally the ones who will be affected by the basing of the F-35 at the Burlington airport.

First, a bit of background on the F-35 and the basing process. Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the military’s newest, and at $1.4 trillion, the most expensive weapon system in human history. The F-35 has been under development for over 20 years, is $167 billion over budget, and is a technological disaster. Recent government reports reveal mismanagement, delayed tests, serious safety issues, software nightmares, and crippling maintenance problems.

Under US environmental law, specifically the National Environmental Policy Act, government agencies are required to prepare a document called the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for actions that “significantly affect the quality of the human environment.” This document assesses both the physical and social impacts of the proposed action.

In the nine-volume, 7,500-page EIS the air force prepared for basing the F-35 at the VT Air Guard, it reported negative impacts in multiple areas, including protection of children, socioeconomics, environmental justice, air quality, land use, noise, community facilities, public services, ground traffic, transportation, and climate change.

Moreover, the EIS stated that basing the F-35 in South Burlington will disproportionally impact the safety, health, and economics of minorities and low-income individuals. According to census data, working mothers make up 39 percent of low-income working families. Overall, 6,600 people in Chittenden County will be affected, including approximately 1,500 children.
I learned the F-35 has the potential to devastate entire neighborhoods and cities in Vermont.

First, there is the physical danger. The F-35 has no established safety record. It is scheduled to arrive in South Burlington in 2020 with an estimated 900,000 fewer flight hours than what the current F-16 had when it arrived here. The likelihood of a crash is much higher in new, immature fighters. Additionally, the dangers on the ground from a F-35 crash are much greater than older generation fighters. This is because much of the F-35 fuselage is made up of flammable materials (called composites). Additionally, the F-35 has an overcoating of chemicals (stealth coating), which produce fumes and fibers that are lethal when inhaled.

Second, there are the health risks to adults, and even more severe health risks to children from military jet noise. There is overwhelming scientific evidence linking jet aircraft noise to children’s health and learning abilities. These include significant increases in blood pressure, stress hormones, and cholesterol; hearing loss; decreased learning; lower recall ability; diminished attention; memory and reading comprehension; lower test scores; and a general decline in quality of life. Some of these ill effects are long term.

Third, the homes located in the F-35 noise area will likely decline in value. Women and their children are particularly affected since many low- and moderate-income households are headed by single mothers. The quality of the lives of those trapped inside its noise area will likely be altered for the worse.

Basing the F-35 here does not add any jobs for women (or men), nor does it affect the economy in a positive way. And the air force stated multiple times, most recently in its 2016 legal filings, that the Vermont Air Guard would continue to have a flying mission if the F-35 were not based here. Unfortunately, the ill effects of the F-35, especially to women, extend far beyond Vermont.

Military weapon systems such as the F-35 are threatening to bankrupt our country. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) called the F-35 program “both a scandal and a tragedy” and “the worst example of the military-industrial-congressional complex.” The money that is being wasted on this useless, dangerously flawed fighter-bomber could be far better used to fund our true needs such as health care, education, training in sustainable jobs, repair of our crumbling infrastructure (including our water systems), and exploring ways to counter our real security threats: terrorism and cyberwarfare.

The F-35 is also costing the women and men in our armed services. Military personnel benefits, including health care, are being cut in order to pay for extravagant weapons systems such as the F-35. In fact, the cost of the F-35 could fund health care of all five million veterans, including the growing number of female veterans, for the next 32 years.

I value our military women and men and believe in having a strong military defense. But, through the years, I have witnessed incredible amounts of wasteful military spending, which made defense industries and contractors wealthy but did nothing to improve national security. The F-35 is the epitome of wasteful spending. Money spent on unneeded weapons degrade our national security since they reduce money needed to counter our real threats.

The greatest external threats our country faces come from terrorism and cyberattacks. The F-35 does nothing to defend against these security threats. The greatest internal threat our country faces comes from our fear. Fear drives us to buy whatever new weapon defense contractors propose and distracts us from what will truly keep us a safe, healthy, educated, gainfully employed, and sustainable society.

Feminists value strong, independent, intuitive, loving women and men who are protective of the weak yet ready to fight for what is ethically, environmentally, and socially right. Opposing the continued production of the F-35 and opposing the basing of the F-35 in Vermont aligns with feminist social justice goals. The F-35 is a feminist issue!

To learn more about the harmful impact of the F-35, or to donate to our legal challenge to the basing in Vermont, go to www.stopthef35.com.