US displays new fighter jets ahead of S.Korea drills

Tokyo March 27 (IANS) Roaring off the deck of a 40 000-tonne amphibious assault ship new F-35B fighter jets piloted by American Marines soared over the Pacific Ocean near the Japanese island of Okinawa as a show of force by the US military the media reported.

Monday s display comes ahead of its annual war games -- Foal Eagle and Key Resolve -- with South Korea starting April 1 reports CNN.

The fifth-generation F-35B Lightning II jets -- warplanes equipped with stealth technology to avoid radar and detection -- have just started their first maritime deployment on board the USS Wasp a warship sometimes dubbed a baby aircraft carrier that will take part in the joint exercises.

The F-35B is one of three variants of the F-35 aircraft and the only one with the ability to land vertically like a helicopter. It can also takeoff in a much shorter space than other fighter jets which is why it can operate off the Wasp a warship only half the size of the 100 000-tonne aircraft carriers in the US fleet.

"It really is an historic deployment bringing this capability of the F-35 and the USS Wasp together to create the most significant increase in our capability the Navy and Marine Corps team has seen in our lifetime " Rear Adm. Brad Cooper told CNN onboard the Wasp.

With a projected price tag of a trillion dollars over the lifetime of the program the F-35 fleet is the most expensive weapons system in history.

The F-35 stealth fighters have been sold around the world to countries including the UK Japan and Israel.

South Korea has also ordered 40 F-35A stealth fighters a move which has angered North Korea according to an article on state news agency KCNA published Sunday which called it a "perilous move against the rare atmosphere of reconciliation".

--IANS
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