Last week the Pentagon provided some details about American support for the Jordanian airstrikes in Syria that followed the Islamic State group's killing of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbe.
According to the Air Force Times, US Central Command Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) tasked F-22 Raptors and F-16CJs, along with an unspecified unmanned aircraft that provided intelligence and surveillance, to escort the Jordanian aircraft launched against positions of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
The American stealth jets are now embedded in the "standard strike package," which includes US and coalition aircraft committed to attack ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said.
The news put the spotlight on the F-22 Raptor and is a sign the US stealth jets are still directly involved in the anti-ISIS campaign in Syria and Iraq. Little was previously known about their contribution to Operation Inherent Resolve besides details that were released following their participation in the opening stages of the war.
More interesting than the US' use of the planes is figuring out the role played by the Raptors in the airstrikes and the value of their escort — the F-22 is the best air-superiority fighter in the world, but it will not find any aerial opponent to engage over Iraq or Syria.
Whereas Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) and Electronic Warfare (EW) platforms, like the F-16CJ/CGs, the EA-6B Prowlers, and the EA-18G Growlers, are most likely taking care of the residual air defenses surrounding the most dangerous targets, the F-22 Raptors are probably used to provide the so-called "forward target identification."
Raptor stealth fighters can use their ability to enter a target area, gather details about enemy systems with their extremely advanced onboard sensors (including an Active Electronically Scanned Array — AESA radar), share the picture and enemy information with other tactical assets and AWACS, then escort other unstealthy planes or drones toward the targets.
They can also attack targets with Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) if needed. F-22s can carry two 1,000-pound GBU-32 JDAMs or eight GBU-39 small-diameter bombs, 250-pound multipurpose, insensitive, penetrating, blast-fragmentation warhead for stationary targets, along with AIM-120s AMRAAMs (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles) radar-guided missiles, and AIM-9 Sidewinder IR-guided missiles.
However, in modern scenarios as well as in Syria and Iraq, the fifth-generation aircraft is more an "electronic warfare enabled sensor-rich aircraft" than a pure interceptor with swing-role capabilities.
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