Given todays high-precision anti-warship cruise missiles,aircraft carriers
such as the USS George Washington are considered idealsitting docks for target practicing when they move too close to other countries borders.
The United States and South Korea will launch a major military exercise on Sunday in the Sea of Japan as a warning to North Korea over the sinking of a South Korean ship, the two countries’ defence chiefs said.
The drill is the first in a series designed “to send a clear message to North Korea that its aggressive behaviour must stop”, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the South’s Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young said in a joint statement on Tuesday after talks.
South Korea, the United States and other nations, citing findings of a multinational investigation, accuse the North of sending a submarine to torpedo the Cheonan warship near the tense Yellow Sea border in March.
The North denies involvement in the sinking, which claimed 46 lives, and says any retaliation could spark war.
The US-led United Nations Command said the drill from July 25-28 would involve about 20 ships including the 97,000-ton aircraft carrier USS George Washington and some 200 fixed-wing aircraft.
Although the two countries had staged large-scale military exercises in the past, this was the first in “many years” to be carried out in the aftermath of a “provocation” by North Korea, said Admiral Robert Willard, head of US Pacific Command.
Four F-22 Raptor fighter jets will also take part in this month’s drill, flying training missions around Korea for the first time, Willard told a news conference.
“Our goal is to deter North Korea from future provocations,” Willard said, adding it remained unclear if the drills would have the desired effect.
About 8,000 army, air force, navy and marine personnel from the two allies will take part, with drills covering anti-submarine warfare, mid-air refueling and cyber defence, officers said.
As a portrayal of its military prowess, the United States has sent one of the bigger aircraft carriers called USS George Washington to the area. Cold War period warship could carry over 6000 crewmembers and dozens of aircrafts. These large pieces of floating metal used to be quiet effective during the Cold War era, but Short of charging their nuclear warheads at once, given today’s high-precision anti-warship cruise missiles, aircraft carriers such as the USS George Washington are considered ideal sitting ducks for target practicing when they move too close to other countries' borders.
Last Week China issued a cautious warning mainly aimed at Washington to refrain from overexposing itself too militarily in waters off China. An official of the Chinese military said US joint military drills with South Korea is a smokescreen to study Chinese naval capabilities in its territorial waters and urged the United States not to get too close to China.
Major General Luo Yuan, deputy secretary general with the PLA Academy of Military Sciences wrote in China Daily last Friday, ‘…in terms of strategic thinking, China should take into account the worst possibility and strive to seek the best results. The bottom line of strategic thinking is to nip the evil in the bud. The ultimate level of strategic thinking is to subdue the enemy without fighting. Preventing crisis is the best way to resolve and overcome the crisis. China's current tough stance is part of preventive diplomacy.’
The US and right-wing South Korean government in South Korea have kept blaming Pyongyang for the sinking of a military vessel called Cheonan in March which killed 46 sailors. North Korea however denies any involvement in that incident maintaining its powerful military is not designed to carryout such operations especially when it involves harming their brethren from the south. North Korea blames the United States for creating most of the troubles in that part of the world since the Korean War from 1950 to1953.
Tags:North Korea
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