OPINION: 'My father isn't alive to consider the new Air Force proposals, but knowing the values he instilled in me, I'm pretty sure he’d agree that there’s a better way to do this,' writes Tucsonan Melinda Matson Spina.
There are new Air Force proposals for our region that would subject rural communities, protected natural areas, and Tribal Lands to maneuvers approaching the technical intensity of warfare.
People are also reading… The new plans would have dangerous flares deployed much more closely over the Apache-Sitgreaves, Coronado, and Gila National Forests, near rural communities where fire is an acute threat. Aluminum-coated glass fibers and violent sonic booms would also be deployed much closer than before, and low-altitude flybys would increase.
Fighter jet training requires planes weighing over 10 tons to crack the speed of sound, drop 2000-degree flares or hundreds of pounds of “chaff,” and maneuver as close as 100 feet from the ground. By definition, these actions approach the technical intensity of warfare. For the land and people below, they carry grave risks of fire-ignition, unpredictable damage, and chronic distress. Last summer, I witnessed a shockingly low flyby of iconic hoodoos near Portal Peak.
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