[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence photo] B-1B Arrives on the Korean Peninsula

The U.S. strategic bomber B-1B returned to the Korean Peninsula after 12 days. This is interpreted as a warning sent to North Korea, which continues to threaten South Korea, ahead of the South Korea-U.S. joint exercise "Freedom Shield" (FS).

The joint air exercise involved South Korea's Air Force F-15K and KF-16 fighters, and the South Korea-U.S. forces conducted combined air training over the West Sea and central inland airspace. This exercise was carried out as part of actively implementing the "timely and coordinated deployment of strategic assets," agreed upon at last year's South Korea-U.S. summit, the 54th Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), and the South Korea-U.S. Defense Ministers' Meeting on January 31.

It is known that the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned attack aircraft was deployed alongside the strategic bomber B-1B during the joint air exercise. The MQ-9 Reaper was first deployed in Japan in the Indo-Pacific region in October last year, and it is unclear whether it has been deployed in South Korea before.

The MQ-9 Reaper is considered the "most powerful unmanned attack aircraft," with a maximum endurance of 14 hours, equipped with sensors capable of wide-area detection, and armed with precision strike weapons such as Hellfire missiles.