The Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $536 million contract modification for sustainment services on the F-22 Raptor fifth-generation fighter jet, the company announced Wednesday. The funding is connected to a Performance-Based Logistics contract, which provides overall sustainment for F-22 weapons systems at US bases globally for 2017. The F-22 made its combat debut against ISIS in 2014 and deployed to Europe for the first time last year as part of the United States’ effort to assure allies wary of Russian aggression in the region. (See also: Keeping F-22s Modern.)
A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flew from Europe across the Middle East to the Persian Gulon July 25 in a 32-hour flight, as conflicts continued to roil the area with U.S. troops coming under attack in Iraq and Syria on July 25 and July 26, U.S. officials told Air…