The US will send F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets to South Korea for a joint drill, reports said on Friday, in a new show of force aimed at Pyongyang. Six fighter jets, normally based in Okinawa, Japan, will be deployed to the South for a five-day joint military exercise, Vigilant Ace, starting December 4, local media reported. A South Korean Air Force spokesman said an “unspecified number” of F-22s would take part in the drill. A US Air Force spokesman declined to give details.
Local media reported that the US aircraft will engage in precision strike drills with South Korean Air Force fighter jets. The move comes as the US pushes what President Donald Trump has called for a “maximum pressure campaign” against the North’s nuclear programme. Earlier this month, two B-1B US supersonic bombers overflew the Korean peninsula as part of a joint exercise with Japanese and South Korean warplanes.
