[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] US Forces Korea, This Time Nuclear Detection Reconnaissance Aircraft on Standby

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu Reporter] The U.S. Air Force's special reconnaissance aircraft for nuclear detection has arrived at the U.S. military base in Japan. The aircraft model is the WC-135 (Constant Phoenix), of which the U.S. government owns only two, and its primary mission is nuclear test detection.

According to the civilian flight tracking site 'Aircraft Spot' on the 17th, the U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft WC-135W landed at the Kadena (嘉手納) U.S. military base in Japan. The exact arrival time was not disclosed.

The WC-135W is better known by the nickname Sniffer. It is equipped with an engine-shaped atmospheric sample collection device on the side of the fuselage. Through this device, it collects radioactive materials released during the artificial breaking of atoms in a nuclear explosion process, then analyzes them to determine not only the occurrence of nuclear tests but also to distinguish between enriched uranium, plutonium, and hydrogen bombs.

It has not been specifically confirmed whether the movement of this special reconnaissance aircraft to Kadena base was merely a stopover or for operational purposes. In August last year, the WC-135W also landed at Yokota Air Base while en route from the Indian Ocean to the U.S. mainland. The WC-135W belongs to the 82nd Reconnaissance Squadron under the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

Some speculate that since the U.S. military often dispatches reconnaissance aircraft stationed at the U.S. bases in Japan to the East Sea, the special reconnaissance aircraft may fly over the East Sea airspace. The WC-135W played a key role in tracking radiation leaks during the 1986 Soviet Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. It also flew over the Korean Peninsula during nuclear tests by India and Pakistan in 1998 and during North Korea's nuclear tests.