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| US F-22 Stealth Fighter Jet Cannot Participate in Joint Exercises in South Korea |
Seoul - This week, South Korea and the United States (US) will hold joint military exercises involving a number of aircraft, including American F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets arriving from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. However, after the weather deteriorated and was compounded by heavy snowfall, the F-22 fighter jets returned to Japan, flying another 275 kilometers to their base.
According to the Bulgarian Military report, Saturday (24/12/2022), the sophisticated fighter jets also canceled participating in the next joint exercise, which was supposed to start Thursday (22/12/2022). The US has yet to comment on the cancellation of the F-22's participation in the joint military exercise due to bad weather and heavy snowfall in South Korea.
The F-22s have been eagerly awaited in South Korea, especially as their arrival is the first in four years for joint exercises. The F-22s last participated in a joint military exercise on December 20, when they took to the air with B-52H bombers, as well as South Korean F-35A and F-15K stealth fighter jets.
The exercise took place on the southern island of Jeju. The US and South Korea were supposed to hold joint exercises in response to North Korea's successive ballistic missile launches. In November, the Pentagon announced that the US F-15 Eagle fighter's combat duty in Okinawa had ended, and was sending the F-22 Raptor instead.
The deployment of the F-22s to Okinawa comes as the US has not yet decided exactly which aircraft will replace the F-15s in the Kadena Air Base inventory. The Japanese related minister emphasized that the F-22 Raptor fighter jets would carry out their functions in rotation. That is, six months will be on base, and after that other aircraft from other bases will be deployed.
Some US experts were quick to criticize Washington for its decision to withdraw the F-15C/D Eagle from Okinawa. China's growing influence in the region and Beijing's increased combat capabilities in all domains have been a cause for criticism.