F-22 stealth fighter jets are back in the Middle East as a US commander warns of ‘buffoonery’ by Russian pilots

• US Air Force F-22 stealth fighter jets were redeployed to the Middle East in mid-June
• Their redeployment comes amid repeated cases of aggressive flying by Russian air force pilots.
• That reflects the history of tension between the US and Russia in the region, especially over Syria.

The US Air Force’s top commander in the Middle East warned in June of increasingly aggressive actions by Russian fighter pilots over Syria.

It was only the latest warning of such activity, and it reflects a long history of contentious interactions between US and Russian forces in Syria that will persist amid broader tensions, experts say.

Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, commander of US Air Forces Central Command, said on June 21 that Russian fighter pilots are behaving more aggressively over Syria and suggested it might be “a way to compensate for the fact that they have had to move capability and capacity out of Syria in order to support the war in Ukraine.”

Russia currently faces a counteroffensive in Ukraine and is dealing with the fallout from a brief but unprecedented mutiny by Wagner Group mercenaries at home, but those challenges don’t seem to have affected air operations in Syria.

Russian airstrikes hit a crowded market in Idlib province on June 24 and 25, killing nine people, and in addition to unsafe flying, Russian jets armed with air-to-surface weapons have overflown US troop positions in Syria in recent months.

Speaking to reporters last month, Grynkewich pointed to a mid-March incident in which a Russian fighter jet struck an American MQ-9 Reaper drone, forcing it down in the Black Sea.

The pilot was rewarded for that action, proving that Russia encourages such “unprofessional behavior,” Grynkewich said. “So any time you have an air force that has fallen so low on the professional ladder that they’re giving medals for buffoonery in the air, you’ve really got to wonder what they’re thinking.”

Grynkewich spoke shortly after the US Air Force redeployed F-22s to the Middle East. The return of the F-22s — a stealth fighter jet designed for air superiority — is notable in light of a broader effort by the US military to shift advanced warplanes from the Middle East to Europe and the Pacific.

The US planned to compensate by deploying A-10 attack planes, which are designed to strike ground targets, to the Middle East.

The F-22 redeployment is “part of a multifaceted show of US support and capability in the wake of what I would deem increasingly unsafe and unprofessional behavior” by Russian aircraft in Syria, Grynkewich said, arguing it was necessary because of Russia’s increasing “unprofessional behavior” and its pilots “flying in a more assertive manner against us.”

Ryan Bohl, a senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at risk-intelligence company RANE, told Insider it is “hard to verify” whether there has been an increase in aggressive flying by Russian pilots but that “there has been a long-standing pattern of Russian harassment and brinksmanship with US forces both in the air and on the ground in Syria.”

On several occasions in 2017, Russian jets intentionally crossed the deconfliction line established over the Euphrates River and flew “within striking distance or directly over” US and allied forces on the ground, sometimes for up to 30 minutes.

That same year, as revealed in a new book, the Russians threatened to destroy the Al Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria, where US special-operations forces have for years trained partner forces, but promptly backtracked when the US military stood its ground.

There have been frequent confrontations in the area around Al Tanf. In mid-2016, Russian jets reportedly attacked the garrison with cluster munitions, and Grynkewich said on March 22 that Russian jets had violated the airspace over the garrison 25 times that month.

While Russia’s behavior in Syria may not be unprecedented, it may be more dangerous now given the deterioration of US-Russia relations.

“There’s always been a cap on the level of escalation that is reasonable between Russia and the United States in Syria, and both sides have long recognized this,” Bohl said. “But underneath this cap is space in which the two are able to send signals towards one another that increase or decrease deterrence and shape the political debate about their military missions back in their respective governments.”

Bohl believes Russia is trying to “signal” the US that the risks involved in America’s presence in Syria far outweigh the benefits.

“Moscow wants American politicians to believe that an accidental escalation within Syria is possible at any time — even if that isn’t really the case — in order to increase American sentiment to withdraw,” Bohl said.

Deploying the F-22, a jet designed to establish air dominance quickly and engage targets from a distance, is a sign the US has no intention of backing down, according to Nicholas Heras, senior director of strategy and innovation at the New Lines Institute.

“The F-22s provide the US with the ability to engage the Russians from behind the deconfliction line quicker than the Russians,” Heras told Insider.

“Due to the increasingly aggressive posture of Russian forces toward US forces in Syria, it is not surprising that the US would want to have fifth-generation fighter assets in place that can both strike Russian forces on the ground from a greater distance and ward off Russian attack aircraft,” Heras said.

The most advanced fighter Russia has deployed to Syria is the Su-35. Bohl said there is “no actual combat data” to show how the F-22 would fare against the Su-35 but argued that the “more pertinent angle” to the US deployment is demonstrating political will to continue committing top-line assets to Syria.

“This signals to the Kremlin that the harassment tactics are not increasing sentiment to draw down US forces but actually causing the opposite,” Bohl said, adding that while Russia would likely never try to bring down an F-22 intentionally, the risk of that happening is reduced “thanks to the F-22’s more sophisticated maneuvering capabilities.”

Asked if aggressive Russian flying over Syria is likely to peak or intensify in the near-term, Heras said: “Russia has adopted a generally more aggressive approach toward the US in Syria, and that should be expected to be a persistent irritant to the United States.”

Paul Iddon is a freelance journalist and columnist who writes about Middle East developments, military affairs, politics, and history. His articles have appeared in a variety of publications focused on the region.