Tag: ROK Air Force

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.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the ROK bought 40 F-35A’s at $175 million a piece.

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.

North Korea has stepped up its pace of missile testing, including the launch Thursday of what it called a “new type” of solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is a very cool event that the ROK Air Force is participating in:

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. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

South Korea continues to see progress in their development of the KF-21:

The second prototype of South Korea’s homegrown fighter jet, the KF-21 Boramae, made its successful maiden test flight Thursday, the country’s arms agency said.

It took off from the Air Force’s 3rd Flying Training Wing in Sacheon, about 300 kilometers south of Seoul, at 9:49 a.m. and landed without a hitch at 10:24 a.m., according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

It flew at an average speed of 407 kph during the 35-minute flight near the headquarters of its developer, the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI), a source said later.

The first prototype of the 4.5th-generation fighter succeeded in its maiden flight on July 19.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

As the old saying goes, the cover up is usually worse than the original crime:

The 100-day special counsel investigation into the sexual abuse of Air Force Master Sgt. Lee Ye-ram came to a close on Tuesday, with eight officers indicted on new charges.

Special counsel Ahn Mi-young told a news conference that the officers of the Air Force’s 20th fighter wing where Lee served appear to have sought to help the perpetrator rather than the victim, and that the military investigators did not actively work to bring justice.

“Let this be a warning that when the armed forces investigate their own and attempt a cover-up, there will be consequences,” she said, adding that she worked with the “determination to fix the old flaws of the military criminal justice systems.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the U.S. wants South Korea to play a larger role in space policy:

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Park In-ho has signed a deal with the chief of the U.S. space operations and agreed to form a joint consultative body on space policy to strengthen cooperation, his office said Sunday.

During his visit to the Air Force Space Command in Colorado, Park signed a memorandum of understanding with Gen. John Raymond on the formation of a joint space policy consultative body on Friday (U.S. time), becoming official partners in space security cooperation.

The Air Force plans to further boost cooperation with the U.S. space force, including exchanging information, through the consultative body.

Park also held a bilateral meeting with the command chief, Gen. James Dickinson, and agreed to strengthen partnership on sharing information on space surveillance, as well as improving joint space operations capabilities, such as missile defense.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.