WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is moving ahead with plans to build a fighter pilot training center in Atlantic County, the latest element of a multipart push to expand air power in South Jersey.
The U.S. Army is wrapping up a bidding process to construct a “mission training center” for F-16 fighter jets stationed at the 177th Fighter Wing in Egg Harbor Township, on the southwestern edge of Atlantic City International Airport.
A spokesman for the 177th Fighter Wing did not respond to NJ Spotlight News’s request for details about for the training center.
The training center will include a flight simulator, will cost a minimum of $10 million, according to government contracting records, and be built to run simulations with the F-35, a technologically impressive though troubled fighter jet that has caused financial headaches at the Pentagon and political angst on Capitol Hill.
“We got money for the hangar that’s going to go in there, hopefully for F-35s coming in,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd) said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News on Tuesday. “We’re hopeful and we’re moving forward with that, and lobbying to get that done.”
East Coast defense
Congress authorized $68 million for the construction of a maintenance hangar as part of a military policy bill that became law in December. That law does not include a funding provision.
Since his days in the state Legislature, where he was a conservative Democratic senator, Van Drew has pushed for the cutting-edge fighter jet to have a base with the 177th Fighter Wing, a National Guard unit, in Atlantic County.
Van Drew said he spoke on Monday with Brig. Gen. Yvonne Mays, top commander of the New Jersey National Guard. Staff for Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat and former Navy helicopter pilot, took part in the meeting, said Van Drew.
Spokespeople for Sherrill referred NJ Spotlight News to the state Department of Military Affairs, which did not respond to a request for comment.
It is vital for pilots to have an East Coast base where they can scramble and defend major metropolitan areas, Van Drew said.
“That is the main line of defense — the New York-to-Washington corridor. If something happens there, it’s our F-16s that go out,” Van Drew said. “And they’re getting older, so they’re going to have to be replaced.”
Iron Dome
The program behind the F-35 is the most expensive weapons system program in U.S. history, according to the Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.
“It is estimated that it will cost over $1.7 trillion to buy, operate, and sustain these aircraft,” the GAO said in a December 2023 study. Estimated costs since for the F-35 have grown to more than $2 trillion.
Lockheed Martin, the defense contractor with a significant presence in Moorestown, about 15 miles east of Philadelphia in Burlington County, is the lead F-35 manufacturer.
The world’s largest military contractor, Lockheed has secured billions of dollars in federal contracts during the second Trump administration and has expressed an interest in building a nationwide missile defense barrier similar to Israel’s Iron Dome.
The 177th Fighter Wing started in 1917 and has flown the F-16C/D since 1994, according to the New Jersey Air National Guard.
