The U.S. sent 12 F-22 Raptor multirole fighters to Poland

A dozen of American F-22 Raptor multi-role fighters arrived in the Polish city of Lask.

Here's What We Know

The United States sent planes to Poland as part of a program to strengthen NATO's eastern flank amid Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Michael Kendall, commander of the 90th squadron of the US Air Force said that F-22 Raptor will perform regular flights in the airspace of the European Union. In particular over Slovakia and the Baltic Sea coast. It is also not ruled out that the fighters will reach Germany and the southern part of Europe.

Kendall emphasized that the main mission is joint training and exercises on the eastern flank of the Alliance to protect European NATO allies. A total of about three hundred U.S. Air Force personnel are already at the Lask air base.

Note that for a very long time multipurpose fighters were used exclusively in the USA. The first combat use of F-22 Raptor took place in 2014 in Syria. Raptor aircrafts can reach speed of 2414 km/h (cruising speed - 1963 km/h). Maximum flight range is 3000 km. They carry AIM-120C AMRAAM and AI-9M Side winder air-to-air missiles, JDAM bombs and M61A2 Vulcan cannon.

Source: Defence24

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