Marine Corps pilots have also been practising refuelling F-35 fighter jets with the engine still running – an exercise known as ‘hot-reloading’ which allows planes to take off at a second’s notice.
Pyongyang has repeatedly threatened nuclear armageddon on the US, and President Donald Trump has insisted “all options are on the table” when it comes to dealing with the rogue state.
The US military have been making preparations in the event the war of words between Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un does eventually spill over into World War 3.
This month, marines carried out training drills wearing Mission Oriented Protective Posture suits (MOPP), which are designed to withstand fighting amidst chemical, biological and radiological hazards.
The grade-four outfits are the highest grade of protective gear available to the US military, but until now have rarely been used in real or simulated combat scenarios.
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Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Martin Aldrete said in a statement: “It’s important to practice in MOPP gear because the Marines do’’t get many opportunities to wear this on a daily basis, so in the instance where they do have to wear MOPP gear in a real-life scenario, it’s not going to be a shock or surprise to them of how they are going to operate.”
Should war with North Korea become a reality, Washington is anticipating early missile strikes on US bases in Japan.
Through hot reloading, F35s can land and take off at short notice, and be up in the air ready to fight within seconds.
While President Trump has stated he would prefer to pursue a diplomatic solution to the Korean crisis, his repeated swipes at Kim Jong Un and his regime have done little to calm the situation.
Today he announced he planned to declare North Korea a state sponsor of terror, calling the country “a murderous regime” and that he would be applying further economic sanctions in the coming weeks.
US officials cited the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s estranged half brother in a Malaysian airport this year as an act of terrorism.
The designation has been debated for months inside the administration, with some officials at the State Department arguing that North Korea did not meet the legal standard to be resisted as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Meanwhile North Korea’s state sponsored media continued to taunt the President, with today’s newspaper calling him a “human reject” and an “old lunatic” who was “spouting all sorts of rubbish”.