F-22 Raptor sees First Combat in Syria against ISIS Published on Sep 25, 2014 A close up look at the F-22 Raptor. Fears of a potent Syrian air defense system drove the U.S. Air Force to send the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter into battle for the first time ever. The Pentagon confirmed on Sept. 23 that the $150 million jets had struck an ISIS command and control facility in Raqqah, Syria with a satellite-guided bomb. That was right after an initial wave of U.S. Navy Tomahawk cruise missiles hit their targets around Aleppo and Raqqah. But the Raptors’ first mission wasn’t cheap. Together, the missiles and airstrikes cost at least $79 million. Thats more expensive than Indias mission to Mars, which was successfully completed Wednesday at a cost of just $74 million. The U.S. government told the Bashar al-Assad regime about the incoming attacks shortly before they happened. But the Pentagon did not trust the Syrian military to leave American warplanes alone as they struck ISIS and another Al Qaida-affiliated terrorist group called Khorasan. That’s why the Air Force needed assets like the blisteringly fast, high-flying Raptor which could operate inside heavily defended airspace with relative impunity. “It’s important to remember that these strikes against ISIS and others in Syria are occurring without any previous degradation of the IADS [integrated air defense system] there,” said one Air Force official familiar with stealth combat aircraft operations.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 20:33:10 +0000
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