Exercise Coral Lightning
Exercise Coral Lightning tested US capabilities and provided operational familiarity for the Pacific bomber presence in the Pacific region. Coral Lightning sorties were said to not be in response to any particular world events. The US had begun moving strategic bombers into the region in 2004 as US Pacific Command (PACOM) adjusted its forces posture to maintain a deterrent capability.
The Wall Street Journal reported on 26 November 2013, that US B-52 bombers without escort had overflown disputed islands in the South China Sea as part of a Exercise Coral Lightning global power training sortie in the region on 25 November 2013. US authorities said that the overflight of the islands, called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by the People's Republic of China, was part of a long planned Coral Lightning sortie. However, the flight came just days after the People's Republic of China had announced the creation of their East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which covered the islands and overlapped with a Japanese ADIZ.
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