U.S. spy plane E-3 Sentry flies near North Korea after summit

May 27 (UPI) -- A U.S. surveillance plane took to the skies over the Korean Peninsula less than a week after the first U.S.-South Korea summit at the White House.

Aircraft tracker RadarBox showed data of movements of the U.S. Air Force's E-3B Sentry, an early warning and control aircraft. The plane flew over southwestern and central South Korea Wednesday. It then turned westward toward South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island in the West Sea, or Yellow Sea, News 1 reported Thursday.

The E-3B, which left from Kadena Airbase in Okinawa, provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications, and is equipped with rotating radar above the fuselage. The plane can detect troop movement as far as 380 miles.

The deployment of the spy plane comes after the U.S. Air Force deployed the Joint STARS E-8C aircraft to the Korean Peninsula Sunday and Tuesday. The E-8C followed a similar route, according to the report.

The E-3B was deployed in January over the Korean Peninsula ahead of North Korea's Eighth Party Congress.

The U.S. Air Force is deploying spy planes to the peninsula days after President Joe Biden met with South Korea's Moon Jae-in.

Washington has agreed to provide COVID-19 vaccines for South Korean soldiers ahead of plans to resume joint military exercises.

South Korea's military said Thursday the two sides are to hold their Combined Command Post Training from Aug. 10 to 27, Asia Business reported.

Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at RAND Corporation, told Radio Free Asia's Korean service Monday that the vaccination of 550,000 South Korean military personnel will make it possible to conduct combined exercises in August.

The two countries are resuming large-scale exercises for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic. Reducing the scope of the exercise could further delay steps toward the transition of wartime operational control from the United States to South Korea, according to the report.