Incheon international airport, Airport in Incheon, South Korea

Seoul, July 14 South Korea and the United States have been conducting their first combined air drills here involving their respective F-35A stealth fighters, Seoul officials said Thursday, in an apparent show of force against North Korea's evolving military threats.The four-day drills kicked off Monday amid lingering concerns that Pyongyang could ratchet up tensions by conducting what would be its seventh nuclear test or other provocative acts, Yonhap news agency reported.The allies have mobilised some 30 aircraft, including South Korea's F-35A, F-15K, KF-16 and FA-50 jets, and US assets, like F-16 jets. Six US F-35As arrived here last week to join the drills in the first public deployment of America's stealth warplanes here since late 2017."The drills have been arranged to improve combined operational capabilities of the two countries through real-life training and strengthen the interoperability of the fifth-generation F-35As run by the countries," the Air Force said in a press release.The drills marked the first combined training involving the allies' respective F-35As since South Korea completed the deployment of 40 F-35As in January.The training entailed various maneuvers, including defensive counter-air operations and emergency air interdiction.Lt. Col. Ryan Worrell, a US F-35A pilot, said the primary objective with this week's training is to safely execute tactics between US and South Korean F-35As to show "our ironclad alliance."The last public deployment of the US' fifth-generation fighters to Korea came in December 2017, when the allies staged their then regular Vigilant Ace training.The latest F-35 dispatch followed an agreement from the May summit between President Yoon Suk-yeol and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, on deploying America's strategic military assets "in a timely and coordinated manner as necessary."Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Incheon International AirportFOLLOW

Incheon international airport, Latest News

Seoul, July 19 South Korea reported 73,582 new Covid cases as of midnight Monday compared to 24 hours ... ...

Olympian Anjum Moudgil won the bronze medal in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) event at the ISSF ... ...

Seoul, July 16 Sexual minorities in South Korea held an annual festival in downtown Seoul on Saturday after ... ...

Seoul, July 15 South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo held a meeting with ambassadors from European nations on ... ...

Seoul, July 15 South Korea's defence authorities approved a 3.94 trillion-won (US$2.97 billion) plan on Friday to deploy ... ...

Seoul, July 15 South Korea reported 38,882 new Covid cases as of midnight Thursday compared to 24 hours ... ...

Seoul, July 14 South Korea reported 39,196 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Wednesday compared to 24 hours ... ...

Seoul, July 14 South Korea and the United States have been conducting their first combined air drills here ... ...