Raptors Are Back:

The F-22A Raptors that deployed in February to Kadena AB, Japan on the island of Okinawa have returned to Langley AFB, Va., the last arriving Monday evening, according to an Air Combat Command spokesperson. Most left Kadena May 10, but maintenance problems delayed two for another day. The mixed force of 250 active and Air National Guard airmen from the 27th Fighter Squadron and 192nd Fighter Wing, respectively, amassed more than 685 sorties during their three-month rotation to the Pacific region. The 27th FS commander, Lt. Col. Wade Tolliver, says the Raptor force “learned quite a bit” on its first overseas deployment and “sustained an incredible utilization rate.”