B-1Bs buzz Korean Peninsula
Stars & Stripes reports that 2 B-1B Lancer bombers flew a ten hour mission from Guam to the Korean peninsula in response to test by North Korea of their missile system.
A suspected Hwasong-14 missile — the second ICBM North Korea has tested successfully in July — was fired late Friday from Mupyong-ni in the country’s far northwest and splashed down into the Sea of Japan about 620 miles east of the launch site, the Pentagon said.
The Guam-based B-1B Lancers first flew into Japanese airspace and were joined by two Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 fighter jets, the Pacific Air Forces statement said. The bombers then headed to the Korean Peninsula and were met by four South Korean F-15s.
After a low pass over Osan Air Base, the pair returned to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.
From Associated Press;
“North Korea remains the most urgent threat to regional stability,” said Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces commander. “Diplomacy remains the lead. However, we have a responsibility to our allies and our nation to showcase our unwavering commitment while planning for the worst-case scenario.”
“If called upon, we are ready to respond with rapid, lethal, and overwhelming force at a time and place of our choosing,” O’Shaughnessy said.
Category: North Korea
B-18 bombers? Is this a new model? (Kidding. I know it’s the B-1B.)
Yes, I think the more antsy Fatty Kim da T’ird gets with his juggernaut parade, the more we have to demonstrate that no one over there is without backup from us.
Callsigns are “bone xx”.
Cute in oh so many ways.
Oh, they’re -boned-…….
Two B-1B?
The Nork media will say the valiant nork air defenses beat back an evil American incursion of 2000 bombers.
They ought to drop a payload of cheeseburgers and watch the ensuing riot(s).
Oh, and send the Dennis Rodman as well…
no “drop” the rodman as well….a bomb on the resort and his house would shut him up even better, especially if he was in it!!
@ GREEN THUMB:
I realize you’re joking, but what if we really did randomly drop entire loads of ready-to-eat foods which could survive the impact, such as sandwiches, et cetera?
Would North Korean peasants even dare eat any of it, or would they fear the food was poisoned, or contaminated with biological warfare agents?
And, of course, what would be the political impact and/or propaganda value of all that American food being freely bestowed at random all over North Korea?
Aside from the humorous suggestion, I think it’s an interesting concept.
Hence my point through abject sarcasm.
And JRM, you are right. It would be interesting how the instant food drop would scramble the stays quo.
Instead of “Hearts and Minds”, it would be “Meal to Mouths”.
For a bomber that was initially cancelled by Jimmuh, it’s a pretty badass platform.
Oh, and NDtBF? See how many allies we have? See how many you have?
Choose. But choose wisely.
As a soldier in the United States Army, my father was in the Korean War, serving in the Eighth Army.
Exactly a quarter of a century later, I too, was a soldier in the United States Army, stationed in Korea, serving in the Eighth Army.
However – – – ,
While many years ago, the Republic of Korea (i.e., “South Korea”) might have needed the assistance of the United States of America for their survival, that situation is no longer true (I think), as the current South Korean military forces are more than adequate to thwart any attempted attack and/or invasion by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (i.e., “North Korea”).
Furthermore, due to continued starvation in the North, and prosperity coupled with charitable gestures in the South, the two Koreas might even be able to eventually reconcile and reunite.
So, if that’s the case, then why are military forces of the United States of America still based in South Korea?
If American military forces were to immediately withdraw from the Korean peninsula, would North Korea still have any interest in threatening the United States of America?
Does South Korea still need American military assistance for its survival?
Wouldn’t those American military forces be better suited for protecting our border with Mexico?
“If American military forces were to immediately withdraw from the Korean peninsula, would North Korea still have any interest in threatening the United States of America?”
Oh pleez.
Do you really think fat kim dat 3rd is building ICBMs because we have a troops in South Korea?
Come dude. You know perfectly well that he, like any other dictator, would come up with some other excuse to exploit his people and build nukes.
Dictator class 101:
(heavy accent)
“The Americans want to kill me. The imperialist capitalist pigs want to exploit our people and steal our natural resources , but I won cause I stiil here!!!”
“Thank you for calling technical support. How may I help you?”
South Korea is perfectly capable of defending itself without US military assistance at this point. A result of strategic patience that gave the South Korean military the decades it needed to become a modern military force sufficiently trained and equipped to counter North Korean numerical force advantage.
US forces exist on the Peninsula for four primary reasons;
1. Force multiplier for South Korea. Our air and naval forces as well as intelligence capacity significantly increases the effectiveness and capability of South Korean forces.
2. Tripwire. The contingent of US ground forces near the NK border will result in US casualties if NK attacks. Making it far less likely that the US congress and the American people will adopt an isolationist position and not fulfill our defense treaty obligations.
3. Strategic influence. The Korean peninsula is one of the most important strategic locations in the entire Pacific. Our presence there significantly increases our regional influence. Particularly in countering China’s increasing desire to be establish a regional hegemony in the Pacific.
4. Detterent. South Korea is a vital ally occupying a strategically vital space in the Pacific. Our presence reduces the possibility ANY nation, particularly North Korea, would initiate a war with Korea.
There are also those that argue we are there to prevent South Korea from attacking the North. There were a lot of hawks in the South Korean military in the 1990s and our partnership was a moderating influence on South Korean hawk’s desire to adopt a more aggressive and retaliatory pasture towards North Korea.
However, South Korea today is a globally significantly and prosperous nation with a great deal to lose in infrastructure and wealth (not to mention hundreds of thousands of South Korean lives) if it has a war with North Korea.
So South Korean politics has far fewer prominent hawks.
Maybe my memory is faulty, but wasn’t one of President Trump’s campaign promises to put an end to all of those wars being fought in other countries, and to bring our troops home?
One of the major reasons that the Founding Fathers of our United States of America were opposed to a professional standing army is that professional armies, such as we now have, are an expensive burden on the taxpayers, tempting career politicians to justify the expense by provoking wars in other countries, such as we’ve been doing for many years.
That’s why Amendment II to our divinely inspired Constitution of the United States of America was written, to guarantee our individual inalienable right to keep and carry arms, for they wanted America’s military defense to rely on local militias, not a professional army.
“expense by provoking wars in other countries, such as we’ve been doing for many years.”
Really?