F-22

Note by the Saker: this is an unconfirmed report, based on a Russian social media post, so don’t take it to the bank.  But this is curious, so I decided

The move to revamp the entire contingent of the US air combat forces is unprecedented in the recent history of the American military. During World War II and since, a widely diverse array of aircraft have served for all manner of air combat needs. During the last decades of the Cold War, development was competitive among a few military contractors for both fighter planes and their specializations.

When the United States started developing stealth aircraft, they were seen as the logical next step in combat equipment. Planes that couldn’t be detected on radar were seen to have the advantage of being able to attack without being spotted, and this advantage was apparently deemed so great that the other characteristics of air fighter superiority seemed to be abandoned – those of speed, agility, the ability to out-turn an opponent, and to duel in close-up dogfighting. In fact, the notion of what constituted “air superiority” itself was altered in the US view.

(ZHE) — On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported an “Incident” had taken place involving USAF F-22 jets over Syria, which according to the Russians, “actively prevented the Russian pair of Su-25 attack aircraft from carrying out a combat mission to destroy the Daesh stronghold in the suburbs of the city of Mayadin in