South Korea is considering purchasing 20 more F-35 strike fighters because of concerns about the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency reported. The country agreed to buy 40 of the jets in 2013. “As North Korea appears to have enhanced its nuclear and missile capabilities in recent years, we are mending our existing wartime strike programs against the North,” a military official told the agency. North Korea has been aggressively testing ballistic missiles and nuclear devices, including last week’s purported test of a nuclear warhead.
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.