The Pentagon is considering further actions to deter North Korea following Sunday’s flight of a B-52 Stratofortress from Andersen AFB, Guam, over South Korea. The flight, which also included a South Korean F-15K Slam Eagle and a US F-16, took place in response to North Korea’s purported test of a hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6. The flight showed “we are ready at a moment’s notice to defend our ally there,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said Jan. 11. The Pentagon would not confirm or deny if there were any weapons on the aircraft. The department is also mulling additional action, but it is “not ready to reveal everything that’s up our sleeve,” Davis said. The Defense Department is still working to confirm North Korea’s claims of a successful test through ground monitoring stations and flights by a WC-135 Constant Phoenix in the region to collect air samples. “This assessment is ongoing,” Davis said.
The Air Force is leaning toward a less-sophisticated autonomous aircraft in the second increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the services chief futurist said. He also suggested that the next increment of CCA may be air-launched, a la the "Rapid Dragon" experiments conducted by the service in recent years.