Is The F-22 The Plane Of Choice Against North Korea In Any Conflict?

An Air Force Security Forces member stands guard next to an F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft following a flyover by four Raptors, four South Korean F-15 Slam Eagles and four U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons near Osan Air Base, South Korea, Feb. 17, 2016. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Travis Edwards

Van Jackson, War On The Rocks: Why The F-22 Trumps The B-52 Against North Korea

The Korean Peninsula is entering a new era. North Korea’s fast developing nuclear capability demands a change to how we communicate with, deter, and prepare for war against it. The U.S.-South Korea alliance now needs to be much more discerning about the types of weapons it wields and the signals it sends, intentionally and otherwise. It should start with swapping out America’s occasional B-52 deployments for the F-22.

Alliance policymakers and military commanders have long been able to engage in muscle flexing toward North Korea with little regard for whether it induced fear in Pyongyang’s ruling regime. Indeed, the hope among most alliance leaders has historically been that military “shows of force”—mostly in the form of exercises and temporary deployments—would induce fear or apprehension in North Korea. And as I capture in my new book on North Korea’s history of provocations, muscular signaling was always America’s principal means of saving face as it showed restraint in the face of North Korean violence.

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WNU Editor: I am not sure if the F-22 will "trump" the B-52 in any conflict against North Korea .... my guess is that it will depend on the mission. Against hardened and specific targets where stealh is needed .... the F-22 is probably the better plane. But against mass concentrations of troops (and with North Korea having a million plus army there will be mass concentration of troops) .... the threat of a B-52 carpet bombing run will be devastating.