South Korea scrambled 80 warplanes including F-35A stealth fighters on Friday after detecting 180 North Korean flights near the border area. North Korea’s provocation came just hours after the U.S. and South Korea on Thursday extended the largest joint air exercise called “Vigilant Storm,” where 240 flights participated. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters when he and his South Korean counterpart announced the extended drills that “at this time of heightened tension, our alliance is ironclad.”
