The F-22A Raptor will make its Pacific theater debut in June when 12 of the new stealth fighters from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley AFB, Va., participate in Alaska’s Northern Edge 2006 exercise. Hosted by US Alaskan Command, the exercise comprises about 5,000 active and reserve personnel primarily from Pacific Air Forces, US Army Alaska, Marine Forces Pacific, US Pacific Fleet, and US Special Operations Command Pacific.
A new Air Force plan for how many fighters it needs in the next decade marks a sharp upturn from what it thought it needed just seven years ago. But analysts worry that the aspirational plan now in Congress' hands doesn’t make a tight enough connection to national strategy.
