Four US Air Force F-22 Raptor Fighter Jets stopped briefly on 06 August at Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport as part of the 27th Expeditionary Fighting Squadron international Expedition, which is based at the Langley-Eustis Joint Air Force Base in Virginia (USA)
The visit marked the first time that 5th-generation fighter jets have landed in Indonesia. Before the Bali visit, careful coordination was agreed upon and implemented with the Indonesian Republic’s Defense Establishment. The stop in Bali is part of an international global practice journey to test the jet’s ability to play a role in the defense of the Indo-Pacific region.
The four fighter jets’ visit followed an advance visit by a US National Guard C-130 on 05 August 2024 to facilitate a rapid “hot pit” refueling of the F-22 squadron and provide other technical support.
In November 2023, the US Minister of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and the Indonesia Defense Minister, Prabowo Subianto, signed a historical cooperation agreement that allows vast opportunities for bilateral training and educational exchanges and increases a shared awareness of maritime domains. As a result of the November 2023 memorandum, the US Air Force is routinely undertaking joint training with the Indonesian Armed Forces to expand the respective operational capabilities of both parties so that the Indo-Pacific region remains open and free.
In July this year, the US Air Force and the Indonesian Air Force conducted a bilateral mobility exercise at Abdulrahman Saleh Air Base in Malang, code-named Cope West 2024. During that exercise, 25 USAF pilots trained with their Indonesian counterparts, exchanging expertise in base security, aircraft maintenance, and aerospace medicine.
The four US Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptors that visited Bali are officially classified as all-weather stealth fighters produced for the exclusive use of the US Air Force. They are essential to the USAF’s Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, which creates aircraft that maintain US air superiority and incorporate ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence capabilities. In making the F-22 fighter jets, Lockheed Martin assembled the airframe and weapon system, with Boeing proving the wings, aft fuselage, avionics integration, and training systems.
First launched in 1997, 195 F-22 jets have been produced from an original strategic plan to produce 750 aircraft. The last F-22 was delivered to the US Air Force in 2012.
The estimated cost of developing and producing one F-22 Raptor is US$350 million.
The F-22 is generally termed an “air superiority fighter” because it is designed to control enemy airspace by exerting technical dominance over an opposing air force.
In November 2023, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto (now President-elect) signed a historic Defense Cooperation Agreement that outlines objectives to increase training opportunities, boost educational exchanges, and raise marine domain knowledge.
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