[The Drive] The United States has stepped up aerial intelligence gathering around North Korea, including using a newly modified RC-135V Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft. This comes amid threats from the regime in Pyongyang to send the U.S. government a "Christmas gift," very likely in the form of a long-range ballistic missile test. The U.S. military has also said it is developing options for how it might respond to such a launch, including reviewing plans that it developed during the last period of significantly heightened tensions between the two countries in 2017. American officials have said they could turn again to the strategy they employed two years ago, which included shows of force in the air, at sea, and on the ground.
Aircraft spotters using online tracking software have been recording the uptick in aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations near North Korea since at least the beginning of December. On Dec. 3, 2019, Ri Thae Song, North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister of U.S. affairs, had made the "Christmas gift" remark, which the regime in Pyongyang followed up with a "strategic" test of a large rocket motor at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground five days later. |