June 17,
2008: The U.S. Air Force is sending a
message to North Korea this month, as 90 warplanes fly into South Korea to demonstrate how
quickly (about four days) forces can be brought in from Guam, Hawaii and
Alaska, and North America. The aircraft will include AWACS, B-52s, F-15s, F-16s, A-10s and KC-135 aerial
refueling aircraft. Such a wide ranging "surge" of aerial reinforcements has
never been carried out before. In the past, a dozen or so warplanes would be
flown in from Japan, or some other base. But never from so many bases at once.
This is now possible because, for the last decade, the U.S. Air Force has been
reorganizing, and training, to get more aircraft overseas more quickly. Time is
a weapon, and has long been noted in warfare, the winner is often the one that
gets there first with the most.
South
Korea has a large, modern, well trained and led air force. The South Korean are
expected to destroy most of the North Korean Air Force (which is poorly trained
because of a decade of fuel shortages). Most of the American reinforcements are
for supporting the South Korean counterattack.
