Rescuing the righteous Raptors

摘要

The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth fighter remains the cutting-edge US Air Force air combat specialist after 13 years of operational service and it is planned to remain so through the 2030s. Maintaining its overmatching capability demonstrated over Syria, operating as part of the Operation Inherent Resolve coalition, will require upgrading the aircraft to counter the Chinese J-20 and Russian Su-57 stealth fighters. While they fired no weapons in air-to-air combat, which is their speciality, F-22s provided enhanced situational awareness from their onboard sensors. Today, F-22 deployments to the US Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR) have been reduced, although they still can be called on to contribute to the overall Air Force effort, which in late 2018 saw eight fighter squadrons deployed. In these deployments, according to General Mike Holmes, Commander, Air Combat Command, speaking in Washington on September 18, 2018: "The lesson learned from the F-22 over Syria is that the airplane works the way we would like it to against a more complex threat. We used it as an experienced quarterback, to take information that its sensors were able to detect and pass it on to rest of the joint force. An F-22 can fly within 10 miles of Russia's top-line aircraft. The F-22 has given us an opportunity to sort through this in a way no other aircraft can and provide decision-makers with more time and better intelligence."