The United States sent two B-1B Lancer strategic bombers in a joint drill with South Korea on the same day North Korea launched a missile. The United States and South Korea conducted a combined exercise on Tuesday involving two US B-1B bombers and South Korean F-15K fighter jets in the East Sea (Sea of Japan).
It was the first time in decades that US strategic bombers have flown over the Korean Peninsula. The bombers launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam and conducted a simulated air-to-ground missile drill over the East Sea, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The bombers then flew over South Korea and conducted another drill with South Korean fighter jets at a military training area near the South’s eastern coast.
The exercise was conducted in response to North Korea’s missile launch earlier that day, which was the latest provocation by the rogue state. The joint drill was meant to “strongly counter North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches and other military provocations,” the South Korean military said in a statement.