washington. december 19. INTERFAX-The number of the latest fifth-generation F-35A Lightning II multirole fighters stationed at Ailson Air Force Base in Alaska has reached 20 units, the US Air Force said.
"The last five planes arrived on Wednesday. The total number has reached 20 35A Lightning II fighters, " Air base spokeswoman Kayleigh Dubois said in an interview with local media.
"We continue to build up our squad. By the end of 2021, we will have all 54 fighters on the base, " she said.
The next group of aircraft will arrive at the base in April next year. After the deployment of all 54 35A Lightning II fighters to the air base, each of the two squadrons - the 336th and 335th-will have 27 aircraft.
Ailson Air Base in Alaska will be one of the largest in terms of the number of new fifth-generation fighters deployed there. According to representatives of the base, the tasks of multi-purpose fighters include suppressing enemy air defense forces and performing offensive operations.
The air base is located about a thousand kilometers from the Russian border in the Far East.
The F-35A fighters were the first aircraft of this type to join the US Air Force in the Pacific, which will be used, including in the interests of the Joint Aerospace Defense Command of North America (NORAD). Their deployment to Ailson Air Force Base in Alaska began in April, when the first two fighters arrived there.
In Alaska, they complement a group of 40 fifth-generation F-22 Raptor fighters stationed at Elmendorf-Richardson Air Force Base.
F-22 fighters regularly fly to "intercept" Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers and long-range anti-submarine Tu-142 aircraft flying in the Far East near the American borders.
So, on October 20, US Air Force F-22 fighters flew to "intercept" two Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers flying accompanied by two Su-35 fighters off the coast of Alaska.
