The U.S. military sent four of its most advanced stealth fighter jets, along with two heavy bombers, for joint drills with Japanese and South Korean warplanes near Japan and over the Korean Peninsula on Monday in a "show of force" after North Korea's missile launch over Hokkaido three days earlier.
The U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement that B-1B bombers from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam and F-35Bs from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture participated in the joint drills, which also involved four Air Self-Defense Force F-2 fighters and four South Korean Air Force F-15Ks.
On Friday, North Korea lobbed an intermediate-range missile over Japan for the second time in less than three weeks. That missile traveled some 3,700 km, stoking concern in Tokyo and putting the U.S. territory of Guam, home to key American military bases, easily within the North's crosshairs.