Maritime Prepositioning Ship
USS John S. McCain
USS Ohio
USS Nimitz
Posted on 02/29/2008 4:12:47 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
USFK Show of Military Might Questioned
Public attention has been drawn to why the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and the U.S. Forces Korea are showing off U.S. battle vessels, including a nuclear-powered submarine and a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and parts of a joint military exercise to the media.
The vessels are in Korea for Key Resolve/Foal Eagle, an annual combined/joint military exercise to be conducted from Sunday to March 7.
About nine different parts of the military exercise will be open to the media this year. During the Roh Moo-hyun administration, only three to five parts were revealed to the public each year.
On Thursday the CFC invited the media to have a look at the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, currently at anchor at the pier of the Korean Naval Operations Command in Busan.
With its crew of 5,600, the 97,000-ton, 332m-long supercarrier, which was commissioned in 1971, is sometimes called a "floating city." It carries a total of 85 aircraft, including FA-18 fighter jets.
The CFC will also unveil to the media some operational parts of the annual joint military exercise, such as a live fire drill, a field maneuver drill, an emergency rescue drill, and a pontoon bridge-laying drill, which will be conducted in Seoul, and Munsan and Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province next week.
Last weekend the CFC invited journalists to a live fire drill by Stryker Brigade Combat teams, which had rushed to Korea from Alaska.
On Tuesday afternoon, the 18,750-ton USS Ohio, a U.S. Navy nuclear-propelled submarine which carries Tomahawk cruise missiles, was shown to local journalists for the first time.
Earlier that morning, a 46,000-ton maritime prepositioning ship of the U.S. Marines was unveiled to the media at Jinhae Port in South Gyeongsang Province.
A source said, "The Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations prevented the USFK from unveiling past combined/joint military exercises to the public for fear that it would irritate North Korea. With a conservative government being inaugurated in Seoul, the USFK is now unveiling more military exercises and equipment to the public."
Some observers suspect that the U.S. is making a show of force to North Korea.
Ping!
“Some observers suspect that the U.S. is making a show of force to North Korea.”
So What!, and Why not?
Contingency plans to extract the NY Philharmonic?
USFK does this exercise every year. It’s routine.
And every year the media tries to portray these exercises as some kind of scary confrontation.
N. Korean military has been unusually busy with their winter training. Now it is our turn, I guess.
It is not a scary confrontation, as you said. However, general public/media attitude on this event definitely improved this year.
Lovely photos, thanks for the ping.
Springtime.
Big US/ROK Joint exercise off coast of Korea.
What a surprise! sarc
Great pix !
Click on pic for past Navair pings.
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Hey Kim Jong, did you see what we did to that satellite? All your Taepo Dongs are belong to us!
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