U.S. Air Force to Deploy Dozens of F-22 Fighter Jets to Western Pacific Amid Tensions with China

The United States Air Force is deploying more than two dozen F-22 stealth fighters in the western Pacific this month as tensions escalate with Beijing over Pacific flashpoints like the South China Sea and Chinese Taipei. Pacific Air Forces in Hawaii said approximately 25 F-22s Raptors from the Hawaii Air National Guard and from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, will deploy this month to Guam and Tinian islands for Operation Pacific Iron 2021. “We have never had this many Raptors deployed together in the Pacific Air Forces area of operations,” Gen. Ken Wilsbach, Pacific Air Forces commander, told the network. Defense…