US Air Force B-1B bomber joins air drill with South Korea, Japan

A US Air Force B-1B bomber has joined a military air drill with the South Korean and Japanese forces. 

The American long-range strategic bomber conducted drills near the Korean Peninsula, Seoul’s military said on Sunday.

The drill mobilized the US B-1 bomber, F-15 and F-16 jets from the Republic of Korea (ROK), and Japan’s F-2 jets, Seoul’s military said.

“The exercise demonstrates the commitment of the ROK-US alliance to integrated extended deterrence in response to the advancing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea,” said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff in a press release.

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As part of the joint military drill with America, South Korean and Japanese warplanes escorted the US bomber to a designated location south of the Korean Peninsula in the eastern airspace of the island of Jeju, “demonstrating an overwhelming capability to swiftly and accurately strike simulated targets,” it added.

The US B-1B Lancer is a supersonic heavy bomber known for its high-speed performance with a payload of 34,000 kilograms of munitions, including both conventional and precision-guided weapons.

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The B1 is one of the US Air Force's three strategic bombers, along with the B-2 Stealth Bomber and the B-52 Stratofortress. The latest drill was the fourth time the bomber had flown to the Korean Peninsula this year, the military said, adding that this drill was the second time a trilateral aerial exercise was conducted.

North Korea strongly opposes joint US military exercises on the Korean Peninsula as a threat to the nation. Pyongyang has vowed to respond to the threat.

Three days before this drill, North Korea had launched one of its most powerful and advanced solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which experts say could reach the US mainland.

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