US set to deploy stealth jets around North Korea

THEY are radar-evading with top of the range technology. A dozen F-35A stealth jets are set to be deployed in a show of strength to North Korea.

The US is set to deploy a series of radar-evading F-35A stealth fighters around North Korea next month. Picture: Ed Jones/AFP

THE United States looks set to deploy a series of radar-evading F-35A stealth fighters around North Korea in a move which is sure to anger the Kim regime.

The stealth fighters are set to be deployed in their first overseas tour next month to the Kadena Air Force Base, on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa.

The F-35 is the most expensive weapons program in history costing more than $400 million, Quartz reported.

While the war planes lack a critical software update, their deployment will be seen as provocative by the North Korean regime.

Described as “one of the best weapons for crushing North Korea” the F-35A is a “useful tool to strike at North Korea’s air defences and command and control nodes during a war,” the National Interest reported.

The sophisticated jets will join a stealth strike force which is slowing building up around North Korea, the Daily Beast reported.

A statement released by the US Air Force said the 12 F-35s and 200 airmen from the 34th Fighter Squadron will join around 100 personnel from the Air Force Reserve Command’s co-located 419th Fighter Wing.

The contingent will travel to Kadena Air Force Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa starting in early November.

The US flew a B-1B bomber, right, and two South Korean fighter jets F-15K B-1B off the North Korean coast last month. Picture: Kim Do-hun/Yonhap/AP

“This long-planned deployment is designed to demonstrate the continuing US commitment to stability and security in the region,” it said.

The deployment comes after the US flew a B-1B Lancer bomber of the North Korean coast last month in another show of force to Pyongyang.

However the show of force against Pyongyang isn’t only taking place in the skies.

Only yesterday Japan and South Korean warships practised shooting down Kim Jong-un’s ballistic missiles practised shooting down missiles at sea.

The drill, which also took place with the US, follows the completion of Japan redeploying its Patriot air-defence missile systems.

Four advanced Aegis combat system ships, which combined advanced radars, computers and missiles, have been put to sea in the drill which kicked off yesterday.

The allies regularly conduct joint military exercises that Pyongyang condemns as invasion rehearsals.

NAVAL FORCES

Meanwhile North Korea’s ambassador called on the UN Security Council to urgently discuss the recent US joint naval exercise near the Korean peninsula, calling it preparation for a pre-emptive strike and nuclear war against his country.

North Korea has launched a series of missiles this year in defiance of the world. Picture: KCNA/AFP

Ja Song Nam said in a letter, a copy of which was sent to The Associated Press, that the naval exercise was the largest “waged with general mobilisation of the nuclear strategic assets” after Mr Trump last month “made the most ferocious declaration of war in history by claiming to ‘totally destroy’ the DPRK.”

Ja said the naval exercise, which began on October 16 and involved the nuclear aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, three nuclear submarines, Aegis destroyers and more than 40 other battleships and fighter aircraft “of all kinds,” increased tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The US has been sending its strategic assets to the region more frequently for patrols or drills amid increased efforts by North Korea to expand its nuclear weapons program.

North Korea has tested several intercontinental ballistic missiles and conducted its most powerful nuclear in defiance of the world.

It also flew two powerful new mid-range missiles over Japan between threats to fire the same weapons toward Guam, a US Pacific territory and military hub.

— with the Associated Press