Barber, Franks to check out F-35 cockpit

fort-hachukaToday, Arizona congressmen Ron Barber and Trent Franks will attend a demonstration of the cockpit of the new F-35 fighter and travel to Sierra Vista for a discussion on the status of Fort Huachuca. Barber and Franks are members of the House Armed Services Committee.

Barber and Franks will visit Sargent Aerospace & Defense for an interactive demonstration of the cockpit of the F-35 Lightning II, the nation’s most advanced fighter.

Officials from Lockheed Martin, which builds the F-35, and Sargent will pitch the plane. Sargent designs and manufactures precision components for the F-35, including hydraulic valves and actuators, structural pins, specialty bearings and engine sealing rings.

The two will then travel to Sierra Vista for a meeting with members of the community and to discuss defense and military operations in Cochise County and at Fort Huachuca.

In June, the Army opened a 60-day public comment period on its proposal to address budget cuts that will force the Army to reduce its active duty force from 516,753 today to 450,000 in three years and possibly to 420,000 by fiscal year 2019.

In examining the number of military and civilian employees at 30 of its installations, the Army developed a “worst-case” scenario to evaluate the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the cuts. The worst case scenario the Army is assessing for Fort Huachuca would be a cut of 2,700 military and civilian personnel.

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