Oklahoma's congressional delegation has formally asked the Air Force to assign its next generation of fighter planes to the Oklahoma Air National Guard base at Tulsa International Airport.
The delegation said in a letter to Air Force Secretary Debra Lee James that the base has the experience, training, facilities and community support to house the F-35A.
The F-35A is replacing the F-16 over the next 10 years as the U.S. military's primary fighting aircraft. The fighter jets cost $400 billion and more than 15 years to develop.
An Air National Guard wing in Burlington, Vermont, is expected to receive the new planes in 2020. Two other units are scheduled to receive the F-35As in 2022 or 2023, and Oklahoma's 138th Fighter Wing hopes to be one of them.