First Appearance In Gulf Since 1998

For the first time since 1998, American forces sent a B-1 bomber over Iraq Friday, where it targeted two radar sites in the western part of the country. The United States usually uses fighter jets to patrol and bomb targets in Iraq's two no-fly zones.

Friday's airstrikes, using precision-guided weapons, were aimed at mobile radar systems. Military officials say Iraq moved the radar equipment into the southern no-fly zone about 370 kilometers west of Baghdad, not far from the border with Jordan. The highly-mobile radar systems are used in association with surface-to-air missiles.

Ships Move To Missile Launch Points

The Pentagon has started moving warships from the eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea, to reach a point where any cruise missiles launched at Iraq would pass only through Saudi airspace. The move was prompted by Turkey's refusal to grant over-flight rights to U.S. aircraft and cruise missiles in a possible war with Iraq.

Twelve vessels in all may be on the move - among them, two aircraft carriers, the USS Harry S Truman and the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

Meanwhile, On The Other Side Of The World...

For the first time in 10 years, the Air Force brought its premier stealth fighter to Foal Eagle, the largest U.S.-South Korean military war game that practices defense against a North Korean attack. Six F-117A Nighthawks — “Stealth Fighters” — from Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., arrived at Kunsan Wednesday after 11 refuelings over the Pacific Ocean and a stop at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

The $45 million fighter — a pillar of pride during the 1991 Gulf War for penetrating the heavily defended skies over Baghdad — arrives in a tense environment. On March 2, North Korean fighters chased an RC-135S spy plane over the Sea of Japan. North Korea also recently fired two anti-ship missiles during military exercises.

U.S. military officials have stressed that the fighters’ arrival isn’t in response to North Korean threats. But the stark warplane on display at Kunsan appeared to awe journalists and visitors Friday; they clamored for pictures and interviews with pilots.

The planes will stay for two weeks, taking off in pairs and splitting up for flight training. Officials have not determined if they will drop ordnance on South Korea’s training ranges. Pilots are planning day and night sorties, as most wartime attacks would occur under darkness.

The F-117A’s angular design is its only protection, snuffing radar waves. It has no weapons to protect itself from enemy fighters and usually carries just two laser-guided bombs for its target.

“They designed a weapon system that is low-observable to enemy radar and to many other spectrums,” Lake said. “While we would probably use different tactics in the old days to get the same job done, now we do that through our low-observable technology and the tactics associated with those.”

The plane isn’t invisible to radar but is “very hard to see,” said Maj. Jose Angel Pinedo, another pilot.

If You Can't See 'Em, You Can't Shoot 'Em

“Our defense is stealth technology,” Pinedo said. “The whole idea is for them not to be able to see us.”

During war, the fighter is assigned high-value targets heavily defended by enemy radar. But the stealth fighter hasn’t been foolproof, as one was downed during the Kosovo air campaign in 1999.

Maj. Lee Wyatt flew missions in the F-117A from Aviano Air Base, Italy, during the Kosovo conflict. The fighter really is no safer or more dangerous than any other plane, said Wyatt, who also has flown the A-10 Thunderbolt II, a subsonic tank killer.

“All the missions are different and they all have their dangers,” Wyatt said. “I certainly knew a lot more people who were killed flying A-10s just in training than were killed in this airplane. That’s not something I really think about, and that’s not really how I think about it. You train to do a mission, and you do it.”

Before climbing into the F-117A, pilots log many years in other fighter planes. Maj. Mark Hoover was an F-16 pilot. “It’s not as maneuverable as an F-16,” Hoover said. “It’s not an air-to-air fighter. Its entire purpose in life is precision attack versus dogfighting.”

Pilots: Confident F-117s Will Bring 'Em Back Alive

“I’d be confident that I’d be coming back,” Pinedo said. “But there’s no such thing as a risk-free mission in combat.”) - A U.S. aircraft carrier prepared to take part in U.S.-South Korean war games on Saturday, which North Korea described as a rehearsal for a nuclear attack, ratcheting up tensions over the reclusive communist state's nuclear program.
Impoverished North Korea, which has taken a series of provocative steps on the Cold War's last flashpoint over the past few months in its campaign for direct talks with Washington, took a dire view of the annual month-long exercises.

"The U.S. seeks to round off its preparations for a nuclear war against the DPRK (North Korea) at its final phase and mount a pre-emptive nuclear attack on it any time," Pyongyang's state-run newspaper Rodong Shinmun said on Saturday.

"Deterrence And Influence"

American military muscle has gone on full display in the South as the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was sent to the western Pacific after U.S. forces deployed those six F-117A warplanes this week. The U.S. Air Force also prepared to resume spy flights off the coast of North Korea.

The Carl Vinson, moored just outside the breakwater of Pusan harbor for a few days with 70 aircraft and eight squadrons, will go to sea to support U.S.-South Korean forces.

"Our primary mission is deterrence and influence," Navy Captain Richard B. Wren, the ship's commanding officer told a pool of reporters.

"Our presence in the region is not in direct response on North Korea, but certainly our presence can also be an influence," Wren said.

The crisis on the Korean peninsula has been simmering since October, when U.S. officials said North Korea had admitted to a nuclear weapons program.

Tensions have escalated since then. Over the last month, North Korea has intercepted a U.S. reconnaissance plane patrolling international airspace and test-fired two short-range missiles, while a Japanese report said the North may soon test-fire a longer-range missile that could reach Japan.

FMI: www.defenselink.mil