Japan’s F-35B stealth fighters likely to fly to Korea during ROK-U.S. joint drills

Both insiders and outsiders of the South Korean military are paying attention to the possibility that F35-B stealth fighters, the most advanced fighter jets to be deployed to a U.S. airbase in Japan soon, may make sorties to the Korean Peninsula.

Ten F-35B fighter jets that belong to the Yuma Airbase in Arizona, the U.S., recently departed for the Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture in Japan. It is the first time that the F-35 line airplane will be deployed outside the U.S. mainland. The U.S. will deploy additional six F-35B aircraft to the U.S. military base in Japan in August this year. Experts say that the deployment of the F-35B at the U.S. airbase in Japan is aimed at coping with North Korea’s threat with nuclear weapons and missiles and keeping the Chinese military’s expansion in check.

The F-35B fleet will be deployed to the U.S. Third Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), which is stationed in Okinawa, and replace existing U.S. air defense forces there including FA-18 Super Hornet fighters to carry out military drills and combat operations.

The Third Marine Expeditionary Force is a core of the U.S. military forces that are deployed to South Korea before other troops in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula. The unit dispatches large-scale troops, fighter jets and battleships to South Korea during the South Korea-U.S. Foal Eagle and the Key Resolve military drills in March every year, and conduct joint landing drills with the South Korean military around Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. As these drills are scheduled again this year, the South Korean military say that F-35B stealth fighters will highly likely participate in the exercises to provide air support. “If F-35B aircraft take part in the drills, they will effectively make their debut in a drill in the Asia-Pacific region for the first time,” said a source in the South Korean military.

The F-35B is a type of the F-35 from Lockheed Martin, which is designed for the U.S. Marines, and is capable of vertical takeoff and landing. The aircraft is carried on an aircraft carrier or landing ship and is tasked with a mission to strike the enemy’s artillery forces and commanding centers in the event of Marines’ landing operation. Since they are not detected by the radar, they can stealthily penetrate the enemy’s territories and deal a devastating blow to the foe’s command before pulling out.

Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com