S. Korea-India joint air force drill South Korean and Indian Air Force pilots move prior to their joint drill at RAAF Base Darwin in Australia on July 18, 2024, in this photo provided by Seoul’s Air Force on July 24. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Bound for Australia The Air Force’s F-15K fighter jets prepare to depart for Australia’s Darwin to participate in the Australia-led Pitch Black multinational exercise, in this photo provided by the Air Force. (Yonhap)
Soldiers salute toward F-4 Phantom fighters after their final flights at the Air Force’s 10th Combat Squadron in Suwon, 30 kilometers south of Seoul, during a media event on June 5, 2024, ahead of their retirement on June 24 after 55 years of service. (Yonhap)
A group of South Korean Cold War-era fighter aircraft staged one of their final flights last week ahead of retirement next month, bidding farewell after more than five decades of service.
The four F-4 Phantom IIs took off from their home base in Suwon, just south of Seoul, for the commemorative flight boarded by reporters on Thursday, retracing the supersonic fighter-bomber’s 55-year history in South Korea’s airspace.
The first batch of the U.S.-made jets arrived in South Korea in 1969, in a major boost to the Air Force that sought to beef up its aircraft fleet against threats posed by North Korea’s Soviet-made jets amid fierce rivalry between the two Koreas.
More than a half-century later, the Phantoms will be fully retired from service on June 7, handing over operations to defend the skies to a new generation of aircraft.
This is an interesting acquisition choice by the ROK military:
South Korea’s defense authorities on Monday chose Brazilian company Embraer’s C-390 for the Air Force’s new large transport aircraft over contenders from aerospace heavyweights Lockheed Martin and Airbus.
The Defense Project Promotion Committee selected the model for the 710 billion won (US$544.4 million) acquisition project set to run through 2026, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
The agency did not disclose the number of new aircraft to be introduced under the project, although South Korea is expected to purchase three units.
Air Force chief visits air, space operations center South Korea’s Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lee Young-su (C, front row) poses for a photo during a visit to the Korea Air and Space Operation Center at the Air Force Operations Command in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Dec. 4, 2023, in this photo provided by the Air Force. (Yonhap)
You would think the landing gear would be a bit more robust to withstand a bird strike:
A collision with an eagle caused a South Korean F-35A Lightning II fighter to crash last year, and talks are underway with the manufacturer over scrapping or repairing the stealth aircraft, the South Korean air force said Tuesday.
An investigation determined the bird struck the F-35A’s landing gear, which failed, forcing the pilot to make an emergency belly landing Jan. 4, 2022, at a South Korean air force base in Seosan, about 50 miles southwest of Seoul, according to an air force email Tuesday.
The pilot exited the plane without serious injuries, according to the air force.
South Korea’s air force and Lockheed Martin, the F-35 manufacturer, assessed the damaged aircraft to determine whether repairs would prove too costly or compromise the fighter’s safe operation.
Flying bomber jets with South Korean fighters is one of the typical U.S. responses to North Korean provocations. What makes this one different is that the Japanese joined in to make it a trilateral deterrence drill:
U.S. B-52 bombers flew with Japanese and South Korean fighter jets Friday in separate exercises as a show of unity intended to deter would-be adversaries, the Defense Department said Friday.
The joint aerial training comes amid elevated tensions with North Korea and China.
S. Korea’s F-35A stealth fighter conducts in-flight refueling drill In this photo released by the South Korean Air Force on Feb. 21, 2023, a South Korean F-35A stealth fighter, nicknamed the Freedom Knight, is refueled by a KC-330 aerial tanker in a drill the same day. It marked the first time for the Air Force to have shown the advanced stealth fighter getting airborne refueling since it was deployed in December 2019. (Yonhap)
Here is a very cool event that the ROK Air Force is participating in:
Pilots and crewmembers of the 15th Special Missions Wing pose, Monday, a day before their departure for Guam to join a U.S.-led multinational humanitarian airlift operation. Courtesy of ROK Air Force
The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) will participate in a humanitarian airlift mission of the U.S. Air Force (USAF), the military branch said, Tuesday.
According to the ROKAF, a C-130 transport aircraft and some 30 pilots and crewmembers of the 15th Special Missions Wing departed earlier in the day for Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, where the U.S. Pacific Air Forces will host Operation Christmas Drop from Dec. 4 to 9.
Operation Christmas Drop is an annual USAF tradition of packaging and delivering food, supplies, educational materials and toys for delivery to more than 55 remote islands in the South-East Pacific. The ROKAF has participated in the humanitarian mission since last year at the invitation of the USAF.
“The Korean Air Force will deliver food, medicine and other items necessary for survival to people of more than 10 islands in the Micronesia region,” Air Force Col. Choi Youn-seok said.
