The U.S. and South Korea will hold the first half of joint exercise “Freedom Shield” from March 4 to 14 for a total of 11 days.
The exercise is expected to involve the deployment of strategic assets such as the US military’s B-52H and B-2 strategic bombers, nuclear-powered submarines such as strategic nuclear-powered submarines (SSBNs) with nuclear ballistic-guided missiles, and nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to the Korean Peninsula.
Twelve countries (Australia, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand, Belgium, Colombia, and the United States) that are members of the United Nations Command in South Korea are also reportedly participating.
On the 3rd, the military said it will conduct 48 large-scale field training exercises (FTX), including joint tactical live-fire, air-to-air demonstrations, air-to-ground bombardments and air strikes, across the Korean Peninsula during the drills. This is more than double the FTX which were held 23 time in last year’s exercise.
