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TOKYO (Reuters): The delay in the arrival of U.S. F-22 stealth fighter planes in Japan is not due to any demand from North Korea, a U.S. military spokesman said on Thursday, adding that the deployment is still set to go ahead.
Twelve F-22 Raptors — the U.S. Air Force's most advanced fighters — had been scheduled to arrive in Japan on Saturday in what would be their first deployment overseas.
The U.S. Air Force first cited “operational reasons” as the cause of the delay of the three-month deployment, then said it was because of software problems.
The Yomiuri newspaper, quoting unspecified sources, reported on Thursday that North Korea had demanded the deployment be cancelled during six-party talks on its nuclear arms programme in Beijing that ended on Tuesday with an energy-for-arms deal.
U.S. Air Force Captain Jason Medina denied the report.
“It was a software glitch,” said Medina, a spokesman for U.S. Forces, Japan.
The latest information was that the Raptors — said to be the most expensive fighter planes ever built – would arrive at U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa in “the next several days”, he added.
The six-party talks in Beijing ended on Tuesday with a deal requiring Pyongyang to close its Yongbyon reactor within 60 days in exchange for 50,000 tons of fuel oil or equivalent aid.
Another 950,000 tonnes or the equivalent would be forthcoming when North Korea takes further steps to disable its nuclear capabilities.
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test last October after a series of missile tests in July.
U.S. Air Force General Ronald Keys said last month that the F-22 was combat-ready, rejecting a report by the Pentagon's Office of Operational Test and Evaluation that said the F-22 was still not “operationally suitable” because its defensive avionics had response time and threat identification problems.
The Raptors are able to gather data from multiple sources to track, identify and kill air-to-air threats before being detected by radar, and have significant surface-strike capability, according to the U.S. Air Force Web site.
