Why U.S. F-22 Stealth Fighters Forward Based in the Philippines Are Near Useless Against China

United States Air Force F-22 fifth generation fighters operating from Basa Air Base in the Philippines have flown near contested territories int he South China Sea, as well as the strategically located Luzon Strait, which U.S. experts have expands military pressure across the first island chain as part of the Pivot to Asia initiative. Exercise Cope Thunder 26-1 showed that U.S. and Philippine forces can integrate their combat for joint operations, sustain sorties from a forward base, and rehearse rapid air operations in a contested theatre, although the suitability of Philippines Air Force FA-50 light fighters, or of the ageing F-22s, for high intensity combat in the region has been called to serious question. Exercise Cope Thunder 26-1 was conducted from April 6 to 17, 2026, with more than 90 Airmen from the 199th Air Expeditionary Squadron deployed from Hawaii for the exercise, and flying more than 30 sorties as part of a combined force of over 2,800 personnel.

Although the F-22 was developed for high intensity combat, and designed for demanding penetrating air superiority missions, the aircraft first flew in 1990 and ceased production in 2011, less than six years after it belatedly entered service. Its avionics are very significantly less advanced than those of rival fighter types such as the F-15EX and F-35A being procured by the U.S. Air Force today, as well as the J-20, J-35 and J-16 fighter sin Chinese service. The fighter’s computer architecture was effectively obsolete by the time it entered service due to the very long delays to the program, and decades after its first flight the aircraft still struggles to share data and operate optimally in a network-centric battlespace as newer fighter types can. 

The F-22’s stealth features remains considerably less sophisticated than those of the F-35, and despite being a much larger aircraft with a significantly higher internal fuel capacity, its range is considerably shorter, and less than half that of the new J-20 fighter. This is a particularly serious constrained in the Pacific where operations over fast distances are vital, and China’s ability to threaten airbases and supporting tanker aircraft is highly substantial. The Air Force’s decision to begin retiring F-22s despite the aircraft being a fraction of the way through their service lives was first announced in 2022, and reflects the significant limitations of the fighter’s ability to contribute to a high intensity combat scenario in the Pacific or other major theatres. 

The F-22’s recent absence during the U.S.-led war effort in Iran from February 28, 2026, during which the F-15 and F-35 were much better suited to play central roles, served as an important indicator of its limitations. While older fighter types with dated avionics have been able to contribute to high intensity war efforts by integrating long range cruise or ballistic missiles, allowing them to strike from safe distances and use satellite guidance rather than their own onboard sensors, the F-22 has no missile carrying capacity beyond the integration air-to-air missiles, which has made it by far the least versatile fighter type in the world to have entered service since the end of the Cold War. The result is that the fighter is not only increasingly outmatched in the air-to-air domain, where cutting edge avionics play a central role in determining which fighter is dominant, but its ability to carry out other missions effectively is also limited.