# Agile Combat Employment

Diminishing Returns of Deterrence: F-22s in the Philippines and the New Aerial Order

The deployment of F-22 Raptors to the Philippines highlights the U.S. military's shift toward distributed logistics while simultaneously revealing the limits of stealth deterrence against China's maturing J-20 fleet. While symbolically potent, the tactical mismatch between U.S. and Philippine assets underscores the political nature of the exercise in a contested West Pacific.