Two Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors and one Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker arrived at Èiauliai Air Base on 27 April after concluding a training mission in Romania, the US Air Force (USAF) announced.
The F-22s and about 20 supporting airmen are from the 95th Fighter Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, according to the USAF. The KC-135 is from the 100th Air Refuel Wing at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England.
Lithuanian President, Dalia Grybauskaite, and other officials welcomed the US contingent. “This is a demonstration that the United States is honouring its commitments and is ready to protect our region with all the most modern measures,” Grybauskaite said during a press conference.
The F-22s are part of the largest deployment of the fifth-generation aircraft on the continent. The effort is funded in part by the European Reassurance Initiative, a move intended to bolster NATO security and to reinforce the US commitment to the region in the face of a resurgent Russia, the US ambassador to Lithuania said. “Today’s demonstration is part the collective defense and security of our NATO Allies, a commitment that is underscored in President [Barack] Obama’s USD3.4 billion request for the European Reassurance Initiative,” Ambassador Deborah McCarthy said during the press conference.
The F-22s will briefly stay at Èiauliai before returning to RAF Lakenheath in England to continue a training deployment that ends in May. Before Lithuania, the aircraft visited Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania.
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