Seoul, Apr 13 (EFE) .- The US army has deployed state-of-the-art stealth fighters in the exercises carried out these days by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier together with the Japanese navy in waters near the Korean peninsula, a show of military muscle in a moment of particular tension in the region.
The US Seventh Fleet, which is part of the Pacific Fleet, today posted photos and videos on its Facebook page of the maneuvers, something the Japanese Ministry of Defense also did hours later.
In the images, the Abraham Lincoln is seen accompanied by Japanese Navy destroyers and the deployment of F-18 and F-35 fighters, as well as an E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft.
The deployment of these fourth and fifth generation stealth fighters (and especially the F-35, the more advanced of the two) promises to particularly irritate North Korea – which considers these assets a real threat to its territory – at a time when that the regime has been carrying out repeated weapons tests and might soon conduct a nuclear test, satellites show.
To this must be added the fact that Pyongyang has been preparing a large-scale military parade to celebrate on April 15 the 110th anniversary of the birth of its founder in which it might exhibit new weapons and that Seoul and Washington yesterday began joint maneuvers of preliminary spring.
The allies are scheduled to begin their Combined Command Post Training (CCPT) on April 18, a computer-simulated exercise that this year might be accompanied by the deployment of military assets on the ground.
The shipment of the Abraham Lincoln to the region appears to be in response to North Korea’s record number of projectile launches so far this year, 12, including that of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The last time the US deployed similar aircraft carriers off the peninsula was in 2017, a year of heightened tensions in which the regime launched three ICBMs. EFE
asb / ahg / mj
(video)
© EFE 2022. The redistribution and rebroadcasting of all or part of the contents of Efe’s services is expressly prohibited, without the prior and express consent of Agencia EFE SA