Which statement is true regarding the forwarding plane?

The forwarding plane is architecturally separate from the Routing Engine (RE); the RE handles control plane functions, while the forwarding plane handles data plane functions.

The Routing Engine (RE) is responsible for processing and evaluating exception traffic, as such traffic typically requires more complex processing that cannot be handled by the high-speed forwarding hardware.

The Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) is the core component of the forwarding plane, responsible for forwarding data traffic at high speeds using specialized hardware like ASICs. The terms 'forwarding plane' and 'PFE' are often used interchangeably to describe the data plane's processing unit.

The separation of control and forwarding planes (RE and PFE) is a fundamental architectural design of Junos OS, and thus the forwarding plane is present on all platforms running Junos OS, even if its implementation varies in scale.