Tag: ROK Navy

Korea, U.S., Japan Stage Missile Intercept Exercise https://t.co/v2E7C0RA7h pic.twitter.com/V3TSbASRgI

— The Chosun Ilbo (@EnglishChosun) March 15, 2017

This is pretty significant that the US, ROK and Japanese Navies continue to do this interoperability missile defense exercises.  Hopefully a new administration in the ROK does not stop ROK participation in the future:

The United States, South Korea and Japan kicked off naval missile-defense drills Friday, joining forces to counter the growing threat from North Korea.

The three-day exercise began amid fears that the North may test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile or stage another provocation in connection with Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Friday.

The Yokosuka, Japan-based guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem, Japan’s JDS Kirishima and South Korea’s Sejong the Great participated in missile detection and tracking drills in the waters off the divided peninsula and Japan.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Oops!:

A Korean navy’s P-3CK, a maritime patrol aircraft, accidentally dropped weapons into the East Sea on Sunday.

The accident happened around 6:10 a.m. during a patrol off the coast of Yangyang county, Gangwon Province, when a co-pilot accidentally pressed the emergency weapons release switch.

“One of the plane’s crew mistakenly touched the emergency weapons release switch instead of a buoy that detects submarine sound waves,” said a navy official. “The weapons were not armed and did not explode.”

The missing weapons include two harpoon missiles, two torpedoes and two depth charges and are worth about 4 billion won ($3.3 million).

The navy has sent a mine sweeper and salvage ship to salvage the weapons if possible. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I am surprised it is that easy to drop live missiles by pressing the wrong switch like this.  You would think there would be some kind of safety mechanism over the switch.

A ceremony to decommission the 2,400-ton rescue ship Pyeongtaek is held at the military port of Jinhae, 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Dec. 28, 2016. The ship served for 20 years after the South Korean navy took it over from the U.S. navy in 1997. The ship was mobilized into preventing the spread of a massive oil leak from a freighter on waters off the western county island of Taean in 2007 and salvaging the naval ship the Cheonan sunken by a North Korean torpedo attack in 2010. The ship will be delivered to its sister city of Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers southwest of Seoul, for security exhibition. (Yonhap)

Facing the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Busan that honors U.N. troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, crew members of the South Korean Navy’s destroyer Wanggeon observe a minute of silence at a naval base in the port city on Nov. 11, 2016, in this photo provided by the Republic of Korea Fleet Command. Organized by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, the Turn Toward Busan ceremony was simultaneously held in 21 other countries that fought for the South Korean side against invading North Korea under the U.N. flag in the three-year conflict. (Yonhap)

This photo from South Korea’s Navy on Oct. 28, 2016, shows the 2,500-ton frigate Chungbuk that will be sent to the international fleet review at Auckland port in New Zealand. Twelve countries will participate in the fleet review that marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of New Zealand’s navy. (Yonhap)

Any tri-lateral cooperation like this good between the US, ROK and Japan:

The United States, Japan and South Korea will practice detecting and stopping ships carrying weapons of mass destruction during a sea exercise this weekend.

The trilateral exercise comes in light of North Korea’s continued work on its nuclear weapons and missile program, South Korean defense officials told reporters in Seoul on Thursday.

The maritime interdiction operation will be held Saturday and Sunday in international waters south of South Korea’s Jeju Island, Yonhap News reported.

The sea services also will conduct search and rescue exercises aimed at rescuing personnel on disabled ships, the report said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest exercise held between the ROK and the United States to further deter North Korea:

The flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier was bustling with sailors and planes Friday to demonstrate air flight operations to dozens of South Korean reporters who arrived on board after an hour-long flight from a U.S. air base near Seoul.

The first thing that greeted reporters was pilots in the cockpits of their Super Hornet fighter jets getting ready to take off and the flight deck crew assisting in the operations in waters some 240 kilometers from Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, and north of Jeju Island.

Before the planned demonstration, Rear Adm. Charles Williams, commander of the carrier battle group of the U.S. 7th Fleet, delivered a short briefing on the ongoing joint exercise between South Korean and U.S. navies amid ever-growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

“Our operations on the Korean peninsula are part of the ongoing partnership with our Republic of Korea Navy counterparts that has been around for more than 5 decades now. The work we have done with our counterparts has proven to strengthen our alliance,” the flag officer said.

As for the meaning of the combined exercise, Lt. Commander Aaron V. Kakiel, a spokesman for Carrier Strike Group 5, which the nuclear carrier is a part of, said, “This exercise has been planned for a very long time. We’ve been working with our Korean counterparts to exercise our interoperability in this area. It is not a direct response to any (provocative) actions (by any country). It is meant to be training for us to work together for a stronger alliance.”

During the 30-minute demonstration, nine fighter jets took off and 15 fighter jets made landings. Most of the fighter jets were FA-18 Super Hornets. Others were the E-2C Hawk Eye early warning plane and the EA-18G Growler, the fleet’s electronics warfare plane.

U.S. and South Korean navy officials said the joint exercise will further improve interoperability to be fully ready to strike back against any military attacks by North Korea.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Condolences to all the friends and family members impacted by this training accident:

South Korea’s Navy said Tuesday that it had found the body of one of three crew members who were aboard a chopper that crashed into the sea off the country’s east coast a day earlier.

At around 6 p.m., the Navy found the body some 1,030 meters under the sea during its search operation that used a remotely operated underwater vehicle.

The body was confirmed to be the Lynx antisubmarine helicopter’s main pilot, identified only by his surname Kim. Along with Kim, a secondary pilot and a naval non-commissioned officer were aboard the crashed aircraft.

“Lieutenant Kim’s body was found just outside the helicopter, and we are trying now to find the rest of the missing crew,” a Navy official said, declining to be named.

The Navy also said it retrieved parts of the helicopter.

The helicopter sent out a distress signal and disappeared from radar eight minutes after it took off from an Aegis destroyer at 8:57 p.m. for a joint military drill between the South Korean and U.S. navies, a spokesman said in a briefing.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

As North Korea continues to develop its Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) capability South Korea is definitely going to need to acquire this technology in response:

The South Korean military may buy four cutting-edge antisubmarine patrol aircraft in the wake of the successful test-firing of a submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) by North Korea last week, a senior government official told the JoongAng Ilbo Tuesday.

The advanced maritime surveillance aircraft being considered by the military is a Boeing P-8 Poseidon, which costs between 250 billion and 300 billion won ($223 – 268 million) per jet. The U.S. Navy has such aircraft, as do the Indian and Australian navies.

“North Korea is preparing a number of strategic ways to attack the South using its submarine fleet on top of the SLBM development,” said the official, “We are discussing whether to purchase the latest maritime patrol aircraft to detect North Korean submarines to prevent surprise attacks from under water.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.