Four F-22 Raptors forward deployed to Lask AB, Poland, for familiarization training alongside US and Polish F-16s during the fifth generation fighter’s first European deployment, officials announced. “We look forward to continue to prove that fifth generation aircraft can operate in Europe as we set the foundation for the future of the F-35,” 3rd Air Force and 17th Expeditionary Air Force Vice Commander Maj. Gen. Christopher Bence said in a? release. “We continue to build our partnership, and train, and work together … on how we [would] ultimately fight if we had to,” he added. The Raptors visited Lask on Aug. 29, a day after deploying from Tyndall AFB, Fla., to Spangdahlem AB, Germany, according to the release. F-16s from Spangdahlem’s 52nd Fighter Wing and the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th FW are currently rotated to Lask as part of a separate, regular aviation detachment training with the Poles, officials stated.
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.