Air Combat Command officials witnessed a 12-minute aerial demonstration by Maj. Paul Moga flying an F-22A Raptor on Friday and gave formal approval to put the aircraft in ACC’s stable of air show demonstrators. The public will not get to see the Raptor’s supercruise or integrated avionics, but they will see how it maneuvers, which Moga says “look absolutely crazy, but I’m always in complete control of the aircraft.” (Readers can find details of show appearances on ACC’s Aerial Events public Web page; look under Demo Schedule.)
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.