- A US Air Force B-1B Lancer joined South Korean forces for a live-fire training exercise.
- The training involved dropping 500-pound bombs at a range in Korea.
- It's the bomber's first live-fire exercise on the peninsula since 2017, when tensions between the US and North Korea were running high.
A US supersonic bomber joined South Korea's Air Force for a live-fire training exercise, conducting runs with 500-pound bombs.
It's the first time the B1-B Lancer, a conventional, long-range penetrating strike bomber with a substantial payload capacity, has dropped live munitions on the Korean peninsula since 2017, when the US regularly sent the aircraft into the area in response to North Korean provocations.
The US Air Force released information on the training on Wednesday, writing that a B-1B Lancer from the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam joined South Korean F-15Ks Slam Eagles "for live munitions and close air support training at the Pilsung Range, Republic of Korea."
The bomber, along with the South Korean military aircraft, "successfully released live GBU-38, 500-pound joint direct attack munitions, simultaneously striking multiple simulated targets."
A video shared online showed some of the bombing elements of the training exercise.
"Today's integration with the Republic of Korea demonstrated the ability of our B-1 fleet to conduct precision targeting and strike with live weapons in an unfamiliar location," said Lt. Col. Christian Hoover, 37th EBS commander.
"The partnership with ROK allows us to support National Security objectives through the speed, flexibility, and readiness of our strategic bombers," he said.
After the live-fire bombing exercise at Pilsung, the Lancer linked up with US Marine Corps F-35Bs, US Air Force F-16s and KC-135 Stratotankers, and South Korean aircraft "for air-to-air training over the western region of South Korea."
The follow-on exercises combined fourth- and fifth-generation jets with a bomber element. The 7th Air Force said that the event was a "powerful deterrent to potential aggressors."
North Korea, a constant challenge, has continued work on its illegal weapons programs and has been frequently carrying out missile launches since 2022. More recently, it has engaged in provocations against South Korea, including sending balloons filled with manure and trash into the neighboring country. South Korea vowed to bring retaliatory action.
The exercises are the first time the B1-B Lancer has dropped live munitions on the Korean peninsula since 2017. At that time, North Korean weapons testing and provocations prompted US and South Korean forces to regularly fly in the area, conducting training exercises to deter North Korea.
At that time, North Korea was ramping up its missile testing, pursuing a variety of weapons developments that caused alarm bells to sound across the region. A year earlier, North Korea twice tested a nuclear weapon, and then it did so again in 2017. That same year, the North Koreans test-fired their first intercontinental ballistic missile. The country tested another one a few months later.
In the wake of the earlier ICBM tests, which occurred over the summer, then-President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with "fire and fury." Amid these rising tensions, the B-1Bs were highly active on the peninsula.
In July 2017, just days after North Korea's first ICBM test, two B-1Bs, as well as US and South Korean fighter jets, "practiced attack capabilities by releasing inert weapons at the Pilsung Range," what was then called US Pacific Command said.
Then, a month later in August, the US military flew four F-35B fighter jets and two B-1B bombers alongside four South Korean F-15 jets over the Korean peninsula in a show of force response to the launch of a North Korean missile over Japan.
And in September, in response to another North Korean missile launch over Japan, two B-1B Lancer bombers joined other US, South Korean, and Japanese aircraft "in a sequenced bilateral show of force over the Korean peninsula," PACOM said.
In October, US Air Force B-1Bs carried out mock missile launches off both coasts of South Korea, and then a live-fire exercise was executed in December, when a Lancer took part in a massive air drill.