Someoneforyou
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SOUTH KOREA - 8 APRIL 2011
South Korea has beefed up its Air Force units capable of offensive missions rather than defensive ones since North Korea bombarded a South Korean island last November, its air force chief said.
Air Force Chief of Staff Park Jong-heon said in a dinner meeting with reporters on Thursday that the deadly bombardment has led his forces to increase the portion of standby planes that would readily attack targets should a contingency arise between the two Koreas.
The airplanes, which he did not specifically identify, "are on standby, loaded with arms that allow them to precisely bomb long-distance targets," Park said, adding the planes are "ready to accurately strike nearby targets mobilized for provocation as well as the origin of provocation."
Estimating about half of North Korea's 340 long-distance artillery guns targeting Seoul are hidden behind mountains, Park said he is hurrying the acquisition of the Joint Direct Attack Munition, a precision-guided bomb better known as JDAM.
"It will be difficult for the Army to properly cope with attacks from the North's long-distance artillery," said Park.
Park said the time it takes for an air force plane to scramble has also been reduced since the North shelled the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong in the Yellow Sea, an attack that triggered a wave of questions about the speed and scale with which the South retaliated.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
South Korea has beefed up its Air Force units capable of offensive missions rather than defensive ones since North Korea bombarded a South Korean island last November, its air force chief said.
Air Force Chief of Staff Park Jong-heon said in a dinner meeting with reporters on Thursday that the deadly bombardment has led his forces to increase the portion of standby planes that would readily attack targets should a contingency arise between the two Koreas.
The airplanes, which he did not specifically identify, "are on standby, loaded with arms that allow them to precisely bomb long-distance targets," Park said, adding the planes are "ready to accurately strike nearby targets mobilized for provocation as well as the origin of provocation."
Estimating about half of North Korea's 340 long-distance artillery guns targeting Seoul are hidden behind mountains, Park said he is hurrying the acquisition of the Joint Direct Attack Munition, a precision-guided bomb better known as JDAM.
"It will be difficult for the Army to properly cope with attacks from the North's long-distance artillery," said Park.
Park said the time it takes for an air force plane to scramble has also been reduced since the North shelled the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong in the Yellow Sea, an attack that triggered a wave of questions about the speed and scale with which the South retaliated.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
