"As you know, the Mountain Home Range Complex is one of the top training areas in the Air Force," Idaho lawmakers Risch, U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo and U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, all Republicans, told Schwartz, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the AP. "The complex is located within two minutes of takeoff and it has two ranges, Sailor Creek and Juniper Butte ranges, as well as several no-drop and electronic targets scattered under the Military Operation Area."

Mountain Home has already won a deal with the Republic of Singapore as a training base for its new F-15SG fighter jets, a package that includes 180 active and 130 support personnel from the Asian nation.

Competition for planes like the F-35 is fierce.

Like Mountain Home, Arizona's Luke also boasts easy access to a training area, the 1.9-million-acre Barry Goldwater Range in the Sonoran Desert, as well as stable four-season weather. One concern in Arizona has been pollution from the F-35. Maricopa County is a non-attainment area for failing to meet federal air-quality standards and the F-35 emissions are dirtier than those of F-16s housed at Luke now.

But local Arizona officials who want the F-35 just as badly as their Mountain Home counterparts have downplayed the issue, contending such concerns aren't a problem.