DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Airman Pierre Turner stands guard along a line of F-117 Stealth fighter jets that stopped at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu on their way to South Korea.

Stealth fighter jets
head to S. Korea
for exercise

The Air Force says the mission
has nothing to do with the
nuclear tension with N. Korea

---

By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

Six F117 stealth jet fighters -- key weapons of the 1991 Persian Gulf War -- left Hickam Air Force Base this morning heading west.

However, this time their destination was the Korean Peninsula and not the Gulf.

And the Air Force maintains that their mission has nothing to do with the continuing disagreement with North Korea over a nuclear power plant and a possible buildup of a nuclear weapons arsenal.

Lt. Col. Dave Wooden, commander of the six sleek, black jets, said they stopped at Hickam on their way to a joint U.S.-South Korean exercise, known as Foal Eagle, that has been planned for months.

"All I am concerned about is doing the exercise," said Wooden, who commands the 9th Fighter Squadron based in New Mexico. "That's my job -- to get my people there safely and have good exercise and that we all come safely."

However, this is the first time since 1993 that F-117s are participating in Foal Eagle, which has been held annually in South Korea since 1961. The exercise began last week and will end in April.

The North Korean government has claimed the exercise is "a war rehearsal to invade the North."

Wooden, 41, flew in the Persian Gulf War 12 years ago, but piloted F-4G Wild Weasels. During the Gulf War, F-117s dropped laser-guided bombs during the opening moments of the air campaign.

Wooden said the U.S.-South Korean exercise is "great training. It gives us a chance to deploy and really exercise our ability to gather up all our gear, plan what we are going to need and test our ability to mobilize and to go forward and operate."

The use of the F-117s on the Korean peninsula comes as the United States beefed up its forces with 12 B-1 bombers and 12 B-52 bombers being deployed to Guam.

On March 2, North Korean jet fighters came within 50 feet of a surveillance aircraft about 150 miles off North Korea over international waters.