US’ F-22 deployment to deter Russia in Syria – opinion
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The deployment of the American F-22 fighter jets in Syria is to deter Russia from its escalating harassment of US forces in the country, said Tom Rogan on Washington Examiner on Thursday.
According to Rogan, the Russian harassment has two purposes: to push the US out of Syria and to earn China’s favor for Russia by pressuring the US military.
On June 14, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement, “U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors deployed to U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility as part of a multifaceted show of U.S. support and capability in the wake of increasingly unsafe and unprofessional behavior by Russian aircraft in the region.”
This deployment is sensible, Rogan said. “In recent months, the 94th Fighter Squadron’s F-22s have been operating out of Poland and Estonia to deter Russian aggression against NATO’s eastern flank,” adding, “The squadron also has relatively recent experience in Syria, deploying there in 2018. Its aircrews are thus intimately familiar with the tactics and capabilities of the Russian forces they will face.
He pointed out that Russian air force fighter jets “regularly jam US aircraft, maneuver aggressively against them, and overfly US ground forces while loaded with air-to-ground munitions.”
The write mentioned that in February 2018, Russia’s Wagner Group attempted to kill American service personnel in Syria. “The threat here is real.”
Rogan discussed that the Russians may not be frightened by the F-22s, but the important thing is that the jets will deter the Russians from threatening the US forces. This means, Rogan continued, that the F-22s will have to engage in dominant maneuvering and jamming where Russian aircrews act aggressively, they should overfly Russian ground forces with their ground-to-air munitions visible, and making sure the Russians understand that while the US wants amicable interactions, it is ready to annihilate any threat.
Fortunately, Russia is aware of a 2018 incident in which a U.S. Navy F-18 fighter jet downed a Syrian air force jet that was threatening allied ground forces, the writer added.
“Unfortunately, however, the Biden administration has shown a recent and concerning tendency to retreat where Russian forces show excessive aggression. This dynamic has been most notable in Biden’s incentivizing of Russia to hold Americans as hostages and in his ordering of U.S. drones to retreat from international airspace following Russia’s downing of a drone that was operating over the Black Sea. This overt weakness is a dangerous message to send Putin.”
Now that the F-22s are in Syria, then, the Biden administration must be willing to employ them without undue hesitation, Tom Rogan concluded.