Bombs away in US drill
Show of force with Seoul after Kim’s missile
The United States flew some of its most advanced warplanes in bombing drills with ally South Korea on Thursday, a clear warning after North Korea launched a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear bombs over Japan earlier this week.
North Korea hates such displays of US military might at close range and will likely respond with fury.
Two US B-1B supersonic bombers and four F-35B stealth fighter jets joined four South Korean F-15 fighters in live-fire exercises at a military field in eastern South Korea that simulated precision strikes against the North’s “core facilities,” according to the US Pacific Command and South Korea’s Defense Ministry.
The B-1Bs were flown in from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam while the F-35Bs came from a US base in Iwakuni, Japan.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency issued a short statement calling the exercises a “rash act of those taken aback” by North Korea’s missile launch early Tuesday.
The dueling military displays open up the risk that things will get worse as each side seeks to show it won’t be intimidated.
Over the course of a 10-hour mission, the B-1Bs, F-35Bs and two Japanese F-15 fighters first flew together over waters near Kyushu, Japan. The US and South Korean warplanes then flew across the Korean Penin- sula and participated in the livefire training before returning to their respective home stations, according to the Pacific Command.
“North Korea’s actions are a threat to our allies, partners and homeland, and their destabilizing actions will be met accordingly,” Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, commander of the US Pacific Air Forces, said in a statement.
“This complex mission clearly demonstrates our solidarity with our allies.”