China-US tension: American naval drill with dozens of F-22s ‘may be aimed at next-gen Chinese bombers’
- Operation Pacific Iron 2021 will employ a high number of Raptor fighter aircraft in exercises in the Western Pacific
- Retired Chinese colonel says the drills are a clear message to China and will raise tension in the region
An unusually large sortie of US warplanes deployed to join a naval exercise is an explicit warning to China and may be aimed at countering China’s next-generation strategic bombers, analysts said.
The assessment followed media reports that the United States was this month sending dozens of F-22 Raptors to join a military exercise in Guam and Tinian island in the western Pacific for Operation Pacific Iron 2021.
Pacific Iron 2021 is an operation by the US Air Force to project forces into the Indo-Pacific region and train them to be “more lethal, adaptive and resilient”, according to the US Indo-Pacific Command.
“We have never had this many Raptors deployed together in the Pacific Air Forces area of operations,” Wilsbach told CNN.
Retired air force lieutenant general Dan Leaf, a former deputy commander of US Pacific Command and now managing director of security consultancy Phase Minus 1, said he was not aware of a previous exercise employing F-22s in such numbers.
The F-22s are fifth-generation combat jets, the world’s most advanced fighter aircraft, incorporating stealth technology and connecting on-board sensor systems with off-board information systems to give their pilots a detailed view of the battle space.