The U.S. Air Force has deployed a reconnaissance aircraft specializing in radiation detection to Okinawa, Japan amid concerns North Korea may conduct a sixth nuclear test.

U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported on Wednesday that a WC-135C Constant Phoenix was deployed to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa last Friday.

The Nikkei daily also reported that an unnamed source of Japan's Self-Defense Forces confirmed the arrival of the aircraft.

The U.S. Air Force has been deploying one of two WC-135 "nuclear sniffer" planes to the Asia Pacific region to monitor and collect radioactive data since October 2006 when North Korea conducted its first underground nuclear test through last September when it carried out its fifth test.

South Korea and the U.S. believe Pyongyang could follow through with another nuclear test around what would have been North Korean founder Kim Il-sung's 105th birthday this Saturday or the anniversary of the founding of the North Korean military on April 25th. 

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