On the evening of 20 July, a B-1B strategic bomber of the US Air Force made an emergency landing at the Kadena base of the US military in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, which was suspected of malfunctioning.
According to the "Okinawa Times" report, the strategic bomber made an emergency landing on the runway north of the Kadena base at around 8:45 p.m. on the 20th. According to the Ryukyu Shimbun, a total of two B-1B bombers landed, one of which turned off its engine after stopping at the runway, and appeared to be an emergency landing. According to the company, this is the first time that this type of strategic bomber has flown to the Kadena base since 1996.
South Korea's Joint Staff Headquarters said earlier on 20 that two B-1B strategic bombers of the US military participated in joint air exercises between South Korea, the United States and Japan in the airspace east of Jeju Island in South Korea. The South Korean side said that the exercise was aimed at North Korea's "Hwasong-18" intercontinental ballistic missile launch training on the 18th.
It is unclear whether the B-1B bomber that made an emergency landing in Okinawa was a bomber participating in joint exercises between South Korea, the United States and Japan.
The B-1B strategic bomber entered service in the mid-80s of the last century with a bomb load of about 60 tons and a maximum speed of up to 1Mach 2. According to the nuclear arms control agreement reached between the United States and the Soviet Union, the B-1B bomber cannot carry nuclear weapons, but it can carry a large number of bombs and missiles of various types.
This type of strategic bomber has been involved in several accidents in recent years. In April last year, two people were injured when the engines of a B-1B bomber at Days Air Force Base in Texas were undergoing maintenance. In May 2018, a B-1B bomber made an emergency landing at a Texas airport with its engine** mid-flight, leaving no one injured. (End) (Hu Ruoyu).
Keywords: Kadena