The U.S. Air Force practiced bombing North Korea alongside allied fighters Wednesday in a show of force to the rogue regime, which tested a powerful new missile just last week.
A B-1B Lancer, supersonic bombers carrying the largest conventional payload of guided and unguided munitions of any Air Force bomber, and several F-22 Raptors and F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, elite stealth fighters, participated in a simulated bombing exercise with South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets at Pilsung Firing Range in Taebaek, Gangwon Province, South Korea, which is near the border between the two Koreas, NK News reports.
The B-1B Lancer was dispatched from Guam, where they are stationed as part of America’s “Continuous Bomber Presence” mission in the Asia Pacific. While the U.S. military aircraft conducted simulated strikes, the South Korean warplanes actually dropped MK-82 bombs.
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“Through the exercise, the South Korean and U.S. air forces have demonstrated the alliance’s strong will and capability for strong retaliation against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, USA Today reports. The bombing drill comes just one week after North Korea conducted a test of a never-before-seen intercontinental ballistic missile theoretically able to range all of the continental U.S.
Wednesday’s drill was part of the five-day Vigilant Ace air combat exercises, which are ongoing and involve hundreds of planes and thousands of service members, according to Yonhap News Agency. The exercises are specifically focused on the threat from North Korea, as U.S. and South Korean forces are training to strike North Korean nuclear and missile sites, as well as its mobile missiles.
The inclusion of America’s top fifth-generation fighters in this year’s joint combat drills is new and speaks volumes about the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea has condemned the drills, threatening to take action against the U.S. and its regional allies.
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