When Jordan’s air force launched a campaign of revenge air raids on Islamic State in Syria in early February, U.S. Air Force fighter jets helped protect the Jordanian F-16s as they flew over enemy territory.
The American escorts included F-16CJs specially equipped to find and destroy surface-to-air radars—and also F-22 Raptor stealth fighters, which flew their first ever combat missions in the opening hours of the U.S.-led air campaign targeting Islamic State militants Syria beginning in September.
A small number of F-22s—likely six or a dozen—has been active over Syria ever since, steadily honing a new specialty as escorts for older, less stealthy planes.
The twin-engine Raptors, apparently flying from Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates, are now part of the “standard strike package” for coalition air raids hitting Syria, Pentagon spokesman Steve Warren, a U.S. Army colonel, told Air Force Times.
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