During Pope Francis' visit to the US, the US government carried out one of its largest-ever domestic protective security operations.

In fact, each US military branch, the FBI, the US Secret Service (usually assigned to protect the US president and vice president), and local and state police departments joined together to conduct a huge escort operation to guard the pope from a wide variety of attack possibilities.

As unveiled by Ian D'Costa in his article "America Deployed Its Best Fighter to Cover the Pope's Tour of the Country," on Tacairnet.com, it seems that this impressive contingent included the Lockheed Martin F-22, the US Air Force's fifth-generation stealth fighter.

Indeed, as reported by D'Costa, shortly after the pope's American Airlines Boeing 777 left New York heading to Philadelphia, a planespotter named Robert Dube took a picture of an Airbus taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport with a KC-10 Extender refueling two F-22s in the background.

Considering that Raptors don't refuel over Manhattan or nearby too often, one could assume the aircraft were deployed to counter a potential terrorist attack conducted by using a hijacked airliner.

Anyway, the US Air Force would not have allowed any aircraft to penetrate the bubble erected to protect "Shepherd One" (as the aircraft in which the pontiff is flying is nicknamed), and its most advanced air-superiority fighter has been the best option to deter an intervention from any potential airborne threat.

Needless to say, it was probably not the only type of aircraft the Air Force committed to such a task.