Stealth bombers heading for Korea

[AnalProbe]

A squadron of U.S. F-117A stealth bombers, high-flying aircraft which can penetrate defenses with virtual impunity, are being deployed in South Korea for three or four months on a training mission, military officials said yesterday.

"F-117A aircraft will arrive in South Korea today and tomorrow to participate in a planned exercise," said Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Nam Dae-yeon.

The U.S. forces notified South Korea last month of the deployment of its stealth bombers in the South, Nam said.

About 12 to 24 aircraft and more than 200 personnel will be stationed at Kunsan Air Base, said Kim Yong-kyu, media relations officer at United States Forces Korea. Kunsan is some 200 kilometers south of Seoul.

Deployment of the Nighthawks comes as the United States prepares to move 3,600 troops of the Second Brigade of the Second Infantry Division near the border with North Korea to Iraq and to cut back its 37,000-strong contingent in South Korea by a third within the next 18 months.

But the U.S. military in Korea denied any link between the troop deployments and the stealth planes.

"The (aircraft) exercise is part of routine training and only for U.S. troops to get the hang of South Korea's terrain and respond quickly to emergency situations," Kim said.

Kim said the bombers participated in this spring's Foal Eagle and Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration training, the largest annual Korea-U.S. joint exercise, which North sharply rebuked and called a precursor to war.

The stealth aircraft, which is coated with a radar-absorbent material and has operated over Iraq and Kuwait with much success, can carry a wide range of tactical fighter weaponry. These include the BLU-109B low-level laser-guided bomb, GBU-10 and GBU-27 laser-guided bomb units, Raytheon AGM-65 Maverick and Raytheon AGM-88 HARM air-to-surface missiles.

Also known as Frisbee, the aircraft has been in operational service during Operation Desert Storm, in Kosovo and during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Although only 36 stealth fighters were deployed in Desert Storm and accounted for just 2.5 percent of the total force of 1,900 fighters and bombers, they flew more than a third of the bombing runs on the first day of the war. Overall in the war, they flew more than 6,900 hours, conducting over 1,250 sorties and dropping some 2,000 tons of bombs.

[Lykos]

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