The U. S. Air Force is busy in the skies over the Korean Peninsula, a range of aircraft including F-16\u2019s running around the clock missions and exercises.<\/b>
OSAN AIR BASE, SOUTH KOREA \u2013 \u00a0 The U. S. Air Force is busy in the skies over the Korean Peninsula, a range of aircraft including F-16\u2019s running around the clock missions and exercises. The increase in provocations from North Korea focusing minds more.
\u201cIt keeps us on a heightened sense,\u201d says US Air Force Col. James Brotree, \u201c There\u2019s always something going on so we always have to make sure we do the right things.\u201d
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Many of these flights come from the Osan air base south of Seoul. And all those operations are run from an air operations center manned by U. S. and South Korean Air Force personel.
Osan is the base for updated U-2 spy planes that prowl the skies over the Korean peninsula. Most days \u200etwo planes will go on missions lasting some 10 hours, as high as 14 miles up.
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All weight has been stripped away to get the plane down to its basics so it can always be \u201clocked in\u201d via signals and image intelligence on the conventional and unconventional doings of the Pyongyang regime.
\u201cIt can be a very tense time but that\u2019s kind of what we do here,\u201d U-2 squadron commander Lt. Col. Todd Larsen, \u201cWe do our daily mission but we\u2019re always maintain our readiness.\u201d
If trouble is spotted, other planes at the base, including F-16 jet fighters, could be called into action, as well as the\u00a0A-10 \u201cWarthog\u201d or \u201cTank-killer\u201d aircraft which has seen a lot of combat action in other hot spots.
It provides close air support for ground forces with missiles strapped to its wings and a very nasty nose cone machine gun.
\u201cWe go to the same air space that we\u2019d be going to in a wartime situation just 30 miles to the north of us,\u201d Major Jordan Hrupeck told me about his combat exercises. \u201cWe\u2019re going there in defense of South Korea.\u201d
None of the U. S. Air Force officers who spoke with us said they expected to be called upon to execute a \u201cpreemptive strike,\u201d the so-called \u201cmilitary option.\u201d But they did tell us, if provoked by the North, which is happening more these days, they are ready.
Greg Palkot currently serves as a London-based senior foreign affairs correspondent for Fox News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in 1998 as a correspondent. Follow him on Twitter@GregPalkot.<\/p>\n