Toledo’s 180th Fighter Wing has not made the short list of candidates for the Air Force’s next two F-35A Air National Guard bases.

An Air Force announcement today identifies Selfridge Air National Guard Base north of Detroit and air guard bases in Alabama, Florida, Idaho, and Wisconsin as five finalists for the new fighters, which are expected to be placed in service in the early to mid 2020s.

The Ohio Air National Guard base at Toledo Express Airport had been listed early this year among 18 facilities to get an initial review for possible basing of the new fighter jets.

Wendy Gramza, executive director of the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the Air Force’s decision to look elsewhere now does not reflect poorly on the 180th, but local representatives who promoted the 180th’s candidacy will seek out decision-makers to explain their choices.

“Obviously we’re very disappointed we did not make the down-selection list,” Ms. Gramza said.

Among regional candidates, Selfridge also made the cut over an air guard base in Fort Wayne, Ind.

The 180th has flown F-16 fighter jets, the Air Force’s current premier fighters, since the early 1990s. Among its responses was a rapid scramble on Sept. 11, 2001, to potentially intercept United Airlines Flight 93 after it and three other transcontinental flights were hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists. Flight 93 crashed in central Pennsylvania after passengers attacked the hijackers.

Pilots, mechanics, and support personnel from the 180th have been deployed to the Middle East since then in support of Air Force missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

First Published December 7, 2016, 9:05 p.m.