Drills to feature Stennis carrier, B-2 bombers
By Jun Ji-hye
Many U.S. strategic assets including the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis will participate in the Seoul-Washington joint drills Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, which started Monday, according to the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC).
The USS John C. Stennis Strike Group (JCSSG) is scheduled to enter a naval base at the port city of Busan on March 13.
The JCSSG consists of the Stennis (CVN 74) with Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9 and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 21, guided-missile destroyers USS Stockdale (DDG 106), USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) and USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) and guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53).
“Approximately 7,000 sailors make up the strike group, which is on a regularly scheduled deployment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region,” the CFC said in a statement.
The Stennis is the seventh Nimitz-class nuclear-powered super carrier in the U.S. Navy. Named for Mississippi Senator John C. Stennis, it is capable of carrying some 90 fighter jets including F-18s and a crew of 6,500.
Officials said the nuclear-powered submarine USS North Carolina, which participated in a three-day joint exercise held in the East Sea in mid-February, will also attend the annual drills. The USS North Carolina is a Virginia-class attack submarine commissioned in May 2008, and is capable of carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles and Mark 48 submarine-launched torpedoes.
The U.S. Air Force’s B-2s, B-52s and F-22s are also expected to be dispatched for the exercise.
The B-2 has a stealth function that enables it to elude anti-aircraft radar when dropping conventional or nuclear weapons, and the B-52 is a warplane capable of launching nuclear-armed cruise missiles. The F-22 Raptor is cited as the world's best attack aircraft.
Among them, a B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber and four F-22 Raptor stealth fighters performed a flyover at Osan Air Base, 55 kilometers south of Seoul, on Jan. 10 and on Feb. 17, respectively, in a show of force to the totalitarian North.
The amphibious transport dock USS New Orleans and the amphibious assault vessel USS Bonhomme Richard will take part in the Ssang Yong biennial, a combined amphibious exercise of marines and navy personnel of the two nations, which also began on Monday.
Anonymous sources told reporters that the U.S. may also dispatch one of its Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadrons (MPSRON) for the exercise. The maritime prepositioning ships provide combat commanders with a persistent forward presence and rapid crisis response by pre-positioning combat equipment and supplies to support two Marine Expeditionary Brigades for up to 30 days, according to the U.S. Marine Corps.
The U.S. Air Force’s airborne battle management and surveillance aircraft, the E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS), could also possibly come to the Korean Peninsula, according to some reports.
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