TAKING A LOOK BEHIND THE HEADLINES
A PAIR OF F-22 Raptors from Alaska’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson scrambled and headed toward the Aleutian Islands to intercept two Russian Aerospace Forces Tu-95 ‘Bear’ long-range bombers on September 1, 2018. It’s possible that the lumbering turboprop strikers — capable of launching long-range cruise missiles — were conducting mock attack runs targeting US radars in Alaska.
These intercepts occur several times per year. In May 2018, two F-22s also intercepted and visually identiied a pair of Tu-95s in the region. The stealthy, twin-engine ighters escorted the Russian bombers for 40 minutes — these are the only US ighters in the area that can fulill this role.
The USAF is coming round to the notion that it may have spread its Raptors too thinly, and is needlessly expending light hours having them conduct missions that could be covered by less sophisticated types. Every minute in the air comes at a huge maintenance cost. Arguably, an aerial intercept is not the place for a stealth ighter — they need to get close-in and signal an intruding aircraft to back of. These Alaska-based F-22s also frequently ly with external fuel tanks given the travel distances required, …
