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Air Force to send dozens of F-22 fighter jets to the Pacific amid rising tensions with China
The U.S. Air Force announced it will send more than two dozen F-22 fighter jets to an exercise in the western Pacific, CNN reports.Why it matters: Analysts say that sending that many jets sends a clear message to China as tensions between Beijing and Washington escalate, CNN notes. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free."The Pacific Air Force is demonstrating that it can deploy as many or more fifth-generation aircraft into the theater on short notice than (Ch
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The U.S. Air Force announced it will send more than two dozen F-22 fighter jets to an exercise in the western Pacific, CNN reports.
Why it matters: Analysts say that sending that many jets sends a clear message to China as tensions between Beijing and Washington escalate, CNN notes.
Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.
"The Pacific Air Force is demonstrating that it can deploy as many or more fifth-generation aircraft into the theater on short notice than (China) currently has in its entire inventory," Carl Schuster, a defense analyst, told CNN, adding that China has between 20 to 24 operational fighter jets.
In comparison, the U.S. has around 180 F-22 jets, according to CNN.
Details: Approximately 25 jets from will be deployed to Guam and the Tinian islands this month to participate in Operation Pacific Iron 2021.
The exercise will operate in smaller airfields, so "[l]essons learned in the exercise could be applied to operating from smaller airports on islands around the western Pacific," CNN writes.
What they're saying: "We have never had this many Raptors deployed together in the Pacific Air Forces area of operations," Ken Wilsbach, Pacific Air Forces commander, told CNN.
Context: The F-22 is considered the first 5th-generation fighter in the Air Force inventory, and to be one of the most advanced fighter planes, per Military.com.