The Air Force provided ABC News with “a wealth of specific information” on the F-22 fighter, but the news network “either omitted or glossed over these facts” in its televised report on the aircraft, stated service officials in a formal response to the network’s final product that aired on May 2. ABC News—which claims “the Air Force declined to participate” in interviews it requested with top service officials—asserted that the F-22 was a waste of taxpayers’ money and was nothing more than a very expensive stunt aircraft to delight viewers at air shows. It also questioned why the Pentagon has not used the F-22 in combat and asserted that “the enemy the F-22 was designed to fight—rival, super-sophisticated fighter jets in great numbers—simply doesn’t exist.” The Air Force’s May 4 response states that the nation did not employ F-22s in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because they were not needed. However, F-22s have recently deployed to Southwest Asia for the second time to support regional partnerships, have served in a “similar capacity” in the Pacific, and have protected US airspace, facts that ABC News ignored, said the Air Force. Continue
The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has unveiled a new electronic warfare drone designed to fly with fighter jets into contested airspace, including alongside its fleet of F-35s. RAF says it plans to develop models that draw on the U.S. Air Force’s approach of mating unmanned systems with crewed platforms.