As Pyongyang boasts of advances in its nuclear program and threatens to test missiles near the American territory of Guam, Washington continues to assess the real danger with its reconnaissance aviation, CNN reports.
Morning flights from Osan Air Base - the closest to North Korea - are made by a Lockheed U-2, dubbed Dragon Lady. It is a high altitude reconnaissance plane, which is capable of flying more than 21 kilometers above ground.
The first flight departs Osan Air Base just after dawn, flying over the Korean peninsula to collect and send critical data to the US military headquarters.
"Everything this plane collects is sent almost instantaneously to people who can analyze, evaluate, and communicate our bosses in a matter of minutes," Colonel James Bartran, who heads the Fifth Reconnaissance Squadron at the base, told CNN.
High-altitude spy plane
The Dragon Lady, which made its first flight in the 1950s during the Cold War, was designed to fly at altitudes so that Soviet aviation could not detect it.
The latest models have been updated with new sensors and cameras. In addition, they are equipped with several systems to handle a variety of information gathering tasks that airplanes can not do alone.
Thus, Lockheed U-2 played the leading role in establishing what North Korea really plans to do, CNN points out.
"We have what's called 'multi-in.'" We are the only true multi-in in the theater of operations, we can see and hear things at the same time, "Bartran explained.
The military also said the presence of Dragon Lady on the Korean peninsula aims to ensure that the US has the information they need to act or respond.
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said on Aug. 17 that if Pyongyang fired a missile into US territory or any of its allies, it would have "grave military consequences."
Some of these "consequences" could come from the Osan air base, says CNN. In addition to housing the Dragon Lady aircraft, this military facility is also the basis of two F-16 fighter squadrons, which have as motto: "Ready for tonight's combat".
The "Ferrari" of the airplanes
The F-16 Third Squadron is stationed at Kunsan, another US air base in South Korea.
It's a Ferrari, that's the best way to describe it, "says pilot Daniel Trueblood about the capabilities of the supersonic F-16.
The aircraft is capable of flying at a speed of up to 25 kilometers per minute (1,500 km / hour). This means that if the US decides to launch an attack on North Korea, F-16s capable of carrying short- and long-range missiles and bombs theoretically will only need three minutes to reach North Korea from the Base of Osan.
Like the spy plane pilots, the F-16 squads train daily on the Korean peninsula, simulating battles day and night.
"We do not know when something will happen or what we can do. We are training every day as if it were the big night," Trueblood said.
In addition, he added that the aircraft carry HARM missiles, tactical missiles that operate against electronic radar transmissions, as well as air-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles.
"The mission was always very clear, they told me to be ready for combat," Trueblood concluded.
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