International security

US Deploys Two MQ-1 Predator Drones to Latvia

Two MQ-1 Predator drones and 70 airmen from the Texas Air National Guard have deployed to Latvia in the continuing buildup of forces on a rotational basis in Eastern Europe to guard against Russia and spillover from the crisis in Ukraine.

U.S. European Command also announced that two of the four F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets that arrived in Germany last week had been flown to the Lask airbase in central Poland to join training exercises with NATO allies.

“The U.S. is conducting reconnaissance of abilities of operating this type of aircraft at an allied airport,” Polish army spokesman Artur Golawski told Reuters. The General Atomics-made Predators and the Lockheed Martin Corp.-made F-22s were expected to stay in Latvia and Poland through mid-September.