The last F-22 built for the Air Force arrived at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, completing the beddown of the Raptor fleet. Lt. Col. Paul Moga, commander of Elmendorf-Richardson’s 525th Fighter Squadron, piloted the jet on its eight-hour, non-stop flight from Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Marietta, Ga., on May 5. “It’s good to have this jet where it belongs,” said Moga, who will fly this aircraft as the squadron’s flagship. The Air Force accepted Raptor 4195 on May 2 during a ceremony in Marietta. (Elmendorf-Richardson release)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…