USAFE commander: Undisclosed fifth-generation aircraft to visit Europe this summer

By Rachel Cohen / July 25, 2018 at 12:54 PM

An undisclosed fifth-generation aircraft will come to Europe later this summer to complement fourth-generation assets in theater and improve interoperability with other platforms, according to the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa.

"We will be welcoming back U.S. fifth-generation assets into the European theater," Gen. Tod Wolters said during a July 25 call with reporters. "These assets will work with U.S. and allied forces that are already in Europe, including partner nation fifth-generation assets to build on the integration from previous deployments. The integration of fifth-generation assets allows the coalition to maintain the air superiority advantage."

Wolters declined to answer which airframe will return to the area, when it is expected to arrive or where it will travel. Lockheed Martin's F-22 and F-35 fighter jets are the only two fifth-generation assets the Air Force owns. The F-22 first operationally deployed to the continent in 2015, and the F-35A is scheduled to be based in Europe starting in the early 2020s.

"The purpose is to introduce a U.S. fifth-generation capability one more time onto the European continent and afford it the opportunity to get out and about to separate nations so that we can . . . improve our interoperability with other fifth-generation assets that are already on the continent and also improve our interoperability with other fourth-generation assets that are on the continent," Wolters said.

The aircraft will help further USAFE's goals of improving indications-and-warning, command-and-control and mission-command capabilities, he added.

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