Tag: B1-B

Here is one of the typicals responses from the playbook used by the US and ROK in response to North Korean provocations:

The United States on Wednesday deployed one B-1B bomber for joint bombing drills in South Korea for the first time in seven years amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s trash balloon campaign and GPS jamming attacks.

The U.S. heavy bomber from Andersen Air Base in Guam and two South Korean F-15K fighters released live GBU-38, 500-pound joint direct attack munitions, to strike multiple simulated targets at Pilsung Range in Taebaek, 181 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the U.S. 7th Air Force in South Korea.

U.S. B-1B bombers last held such an exercise in South Korea in 2017.

You can read more at the link.

This probably did not impress the Kim regime too much considering this response has been done before:

A U.S. B-1B Lancer strategic bomber joined a South Korea-U.S. joint air drill Saturday, one day after North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) toward the East Sea, military officials said. 

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the supersonic bomber made a sortie over South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) escorted by South Korea’s F-35A jets and U.S. F-16 fighters. 

On Friday, North Korea fired a Hwasong-17 ICBM, which is known to carry multiple warheads and have a range of around 15,000 kilometers, long enough to cover the entire U.S. mainland. 

“Through this drill, we have once again demonstrated the joint military capacity of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and Washington’s commitment to protecting the Korean Peninsula and providing extended deterrence,” the JCS said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is interesting that this announcement is coming from the North Koreans and not from USFK:

North Korea claimed Tuesday that U.S. B-1B strategic bombers made flights over the Korean Peninsula early this week in an exercise on dropping nuclear bombs, saying that Washington is to blame for rising tensions.

The United States carried out a military provocation Monday by flying B-1B bombers over Korea less than one day after Seoul and Washington wrapped up their joint military drills at the end of last month, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The allies completed their two-month joint exercises on April 30, with U.S. strategic assets taking part in the training, such as the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, F-35 stealth fighter jets and B-1B bombers.

“The B-1Bs from Guam sneakily flew over sky above the East Sea (on Monday) and joined cooperative operations with strategic striking means, including the aircraft carrier and nuclear-powered submarine,” the KCNA said in an English report.

It is not confirmed whether the North’s claim is true as South Korea and the U.S. have not unveiled relevant information.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.