A U.S. B-1B strategic bomber feared by North Korea has been forward deployed to Guam as the U.S. and South Korean authorities assess that North Korea’s seventh nuclear test is imminent. The U.S. Air Force Pacific Command said the deployment is intended to support the mission of Pacific Air Force bombers and helps to strengthen regional readiness. Correspondent Park Dong-jeong.
A U.S. B-1B strategic bomber has been deployed to Guam in the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Pacific Air Force Command told VOA on the 7th.
[태평양공군사령부 공보실] “B-1B bombers have been deployed to Guam recently in support of our continued Bomber Task Force deployment to support Pacific Air Forces’ training efforts with allies, partners, and joint forces and strategic deterrence missions to reinforce the rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region.”
In an email sent to the VOA on the same day, the Pacific Air Command’s press office said in an email to the VOA, “B-1B bombers have recently been deployed to strengthen the rule-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region and to support allies/partners, joint forces, and Pacific Air Force bomber (TF) missions. It was deployed to Guam,” he said.
“Deploying strategic bombers will help enhance the readiness and training needed to respond to potential crises or challenges in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
In response to a question about the effect of the deployment of strategic bombers in Guam on deterrence against North Korea, the Pacific Air Force Command said, “The lethal long-range strike capability provided by the strategic bomber B-1B has enabled comparable powers to generate potential threats from military attacks in the Indo-Pacific region. It makes me believe that the cost will far outweigh the gains.”
[태평양공군사령부 공보실] “The lethal, long-range strike capabilities that strategic bombers provide cause near-peer powers to believe that the cost of military aggression within the Indo-Pacific region is not worth any potential gain. Bomber missions demonstrate the credibility of our forces to address a global security environment that is more diverse and uncertain than at any other time in our history. Pacific Air Forces will continue to provide a safe, secure, effective and ready strategic deterrent.”
“The mission of the strategic bomber demonstrates the confidence of our U.S. military to respond to a global security environment that is more diverse and uncertain than at any other time in history,” he said.
“The Pacific Air Force will continue to provide a safe, reliable, effective and prepared strategic deterrent,” he added.
Earlier on the 6th, the Pacific Air Force Command released a photo on Twitter saying that the B-1B bomber was deployed to Guam as part of a strategic rotational deployment of bombers in the Indo-Pacific region and to support training of the Pacific Air Force in the region.
In addition, he said that in the process of the B-1B bombers being deployed to Guam, they conducted joint air exercises with two F-15 fighters belonging to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force to maintain a free Indo-Pacific region.
In a press release on the 7th, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command also confirmed that the B-1B was deployed to Anderson Air Force Base in Guam on the 3rd and said the bomber would conduct exercises with its allies, partners and joint forces.
The B-1B Lancer bomber, called the ‘swan of death’, is a long-range strategic bomber of the US Air Force feared by North Korea.
The B-1B Lancer, one of the three major US strategic bombers along with the B-52 and B-2, can carry up to 60 tons of bombs and fly over enemy lines.
In fact, the B-1B Lancer crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) after North Korea’s sixth nuclear test in 2017 and flew in international airspace over North Korea’s East Sea.
In a phone call with VOA on the 8th, Bruce Bennett, a senior researcher at the Rand Institute, a think tank specializing in the US military, interpreted the deployment of B-1Bs to Guam as another armed protest against North Korea.
[녹취: 베넷 연구원] “so they are only capable of conventional weapons Nevertheless, a with regard to North Korea, the B-1B could deliver a lot of conventional weapons. And so, this is deploying it to Guam would be another show of force, basically demonstrating to North Korea that there are many ways that we could respond to bad behavior by North Korea.”
“It shows that the B-1B can carry a lot of conventional weapons,” said Bennett.
U.S.-South Korea joint exercises are being conducted one after another while the United States and South Korea assess that North Korea’s seventh nuclear test is imminent and are preparing for the possibility of a major provocation.
The US and South Korean Air Force mobilized 20 F-35A stealth fighters in response to North Korea’s continuous ballistic missile provocations on the 7th and flew an armed demonstration over the West Sea of the Korean Peninsula.
Prior to this, the U.S. and ROK Navy conducted a combined aircraft carrier strike group exercise in the high seas southeast of Okinawa, Japan for three days from the 2nd. It is the first time in four years and seven months since November 2017 that the two countries have mobilized nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in a joint exercise between the two countries.
Researcher Bennett assessed that the United States and South Korea are finally acting like real allies in response to the US and South Korea’s swift response to North Korea’s provocations.
[녹취: 베넷 연구원] “Oh I’m so grateful we finally have that kind of cooperation. I think it’s wonderful that the U.S. and South Korea now are really acting like allies rather than just claiming to be even under the Moon administration we did some things as allies, but President Yoon and President Biden are demonstrating a very close relationship and that’s got to be pretty distressing to North Korea because they would like to undermine our alliance and instead they’ve been strengthening our alliance by giving us reason to work closely together.”
“President Yun Seok-yeol and President Biden are showing a very close relationship, and that will be quite painful for North Korea,” he said.
“Because North Korea wanted to undermine the alliance with the United States, but rather, it is strengthening our alliance by providing reasons to strengthen cooperation,” said Bennett.
In the midst of this, the US Pacific Fleet announced on the 7th that a large-scale ‘Valiant Shield 22’ exercise in the waters of Guam and other mobilized nuclear-powered aircraft carriers had begun.
In an email sent to VOA that day, the Pacific Fleet Public Affairs Office said in an email sent to VOA that the 9th Brave Shield Maneuver Training (FTX) will be held from the 6th to the 17th. He said it will help improve territorial integration and joint operation capabilities.
This is Dong-Jeong Park from VOA News.
