F-22 Raptor fighters from the 90th Fighter Squadron of the U.S. Air Force have landed at the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Łask, Poland, the Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak tweeted on Thursday.
He described them as “some of the most modern fighter jets in the world” that had come to Poland as part of the NATO Air Shielding mission on the organization’s eastern flank.
NATO Air Shielding is a mission to increase the presence of air forces and air defenses under NATO command. Six fifth-generation F-22 fighter jets have been sent to Poland to be stationed in Łask. American servicemen will be trained together with Polish crews there. The mission is to create a shield between the Baltic states and the Black Sea in order to increase the defense capacity of NATO member states, protecting both civilians and ground forces from aerial threats.
The F-22 Raptor has been designed as a fighter that can be used in air-ground attacks as well as surveillance missions. The plane has been constructed to evade radar detection. It was first used against ISIS in Syria in 2014. It has not been sold to anyone outside of the USA.
