F - 2 2 R
I N P O L A N D
In early August 2022, USAF F-22 fighter jets landed at the 32nd Tactical Air Base in Łask, Poland - thus
beginning their mission as part of NATO's Air Shielding strategy.
Air Shielding is a NATO response to the threat from Russia, which has become even more pronounced after the
invasion of Ukraine. The Coalition partners to „deter and protect" decided to deploy even more of their combat
assets - both air and air defense-related - to the Eastern flank. Additional assets were deployed to Baltic States,
Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and, of course, Poland. The most spectacular move was the redeployment of
twelve F-22 Raptors from the 90th Fighter Squadron (which became the 90th Expeditionary Squadron) from
the Alaskan Elmendorf-Richardson AFB to the Łask, which is home of sixteen Polish F-16s on a daily basis.
The arrival in Europe of such a large number of state-of-the-art combat aircraft is unprecedented -as it has not
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