PHOTOS: The last time you'll ever see 7 F-22s at Edwards Air Force Base

f-22 edwards air force base fifth generation

(Four operational jets from three different bases are at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for testing to help improve the long-term combat capability of the F-22 Raptor.US Air Force photo/Christian Turner)

In the early days of the F-22 Raptor program, the 411th Flight Test Squadron operated out of Edwards Air Force Base, California. The squadron frequently lined up seven or eight of the fifth generation fighters on the tarmac like you see above.

However, those days are numbered. “This will be the last time we have this many jets ever in this compound,” Lt. Col. Randel Gordon, F-22 Combined Test Force director and 411th FLTS commander, said in an Air Force statement.

The majority of the original test F-22s were stationed at Edwards in the 1990s, but now they're moving on to other bases as the F-22 program matures.

So for the foreseeable future, this will be the last time that 7 of the deadliest combat planes in the world will line up at Edwards.

f 22 edwards air force base

(Four operational jets from three different bases are at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for testing to help improve the long-term combat capability of the F-22 Raptor.US Air Force photo/Christian Turner)

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