Tag: USFK

That is a lot of firepower on display during this exercise:

U.S. warplanes conduct a training exercise in this photo captured from the Facebook account of the U.S. 7th Air Force. (Yonhap)

The U.S. military in South Korea conducted air force training involving dozens of warplanes, including F-16 fighter jets and U-2 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft, earlier this month, the U.S. 7th Air Force has said. 

The training “underlines our commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea,” and it demonstrated “our ability to rapidly generate combat air power,” the U.S. military said in a Facebook post Saturday, referring to South Korea by its official name. 

The display of airpower came amid lingering tension on the Korean Peninsula over North Korea’s continued weapons testing. 

During the “Elephant Walk” training, the fully armed jets taxied in formation along an unspecified airfield to practice standard pre-takeoff procedures and check their readiness, it said.

Yonhap

Fortunately no one was injured or killed from this crash:

An American F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed Saturday in an agricultural field near Osan Air Base, according to the 51st Fighter Wing

The crash occurred around 9:45 a.m. about 10 miles from Osan and 30 miles south of Seoul, the wing said in a news release. The pilot ejected safely and is in stable condition after being taken to an urgent care facility on base.

No other injuries were reported and an investigation is underway, the wing said.

The F-16 was assigned to the 8th Fighter Wing out of Kunsan Air Base, about 115 miles south of Seoul. Around 30 F-16s from Kunsan were temporarily relocated to Osan in March due to routine repairs of the base’s runway.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Another U.S. Soldier has self selected himself out of continued service it looks like:

An American soldier suspected of assaulting a South Korean bus driver was arrested over the weekend by police in Suwon city, according to a police official.

Police allege that a junior enlisted soldier stationed at Camp Humphreys boarded a tourist bus around 6:40 a.m. Sunday and “made a commotion” by yelling, a spokesman for the Suwon Seobu police station told Stars and Stripes by phone Monday.

South Korean law enforcement officials customarily speak to the media on the condition of anonymity and do not publicly identify criminal suspects until trial. Suwon is roughly 20 miles north of Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base overseas.

The bus driver was pushed to the ground while attempting to restrain the soldier, the spokesman said. The driver notified police, who apprehended the soldier at a convenience store about 330 yards from the bus.

The bus driver and police officers at the scene said they smelled alcohol on the soldier’s breath, the spokesman said. Police will review security camera footage from the bus and plan to interview the soldier at a later date.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like there is not going to be much activity going on this summer at Kunsan AB as its runway goes through a complete overhaul:

The last U.S. Air Force fighter jets from Kunsan Air Base moved this week to Osan Air Base, about 75 miles north, ahead of a scheduled runway overhaul expected to last through the summer.

Around 30 F-16 Fighting Falcons of the 8^th Fighter Wing will continue flight operations over South Korea from Osan while their 9,000-foot-long home runway receives a makeover, wing spokeswoman Capt. Kaylin P. Hankerson told Stars and Stripes by email Thursday.

Kunsan is on the country’s west coast about 115 miles south of Seoul and is home to around 4,200 U.S. troops.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It is pretty ridiculous that six years after first being installed the environmental review for the THAAD base in Seongju still is just about to be complete. This shows that this was really not an environmental review, but instead a political review by the prior administration to keep the site temporary:

The government is anticipated to take steps to turn the THAAD base into a permanent installation as early as July, when the Ministry of Environment is expected to draw conclusions on its ongoing environmental impact assessments.

Once the environment ministry gives the green light, the U.S. army will be allowed to initiate a process of building infrastructure and facilities for the THAAD base.

While concerns are rising that Seoul’s moves may draw fierce protests from Beijing, analysts viewed that China now has fewer retaliatory options compared to the ones it had in 2017, considering its economic slowdown and escalating competition with Washington.

“China will increase threats as the [South] Korean government continues to turn the THAAD unit into a permanent base, but it is unlikely to impose stronger sanctions than the ones we’ve seen in 2017,” said Kang Joon-young, a professor of Chinese studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

“Amid escalating rivalry with the U.S., China seems to be less willing to become enemies with its neighboring countries. And North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats justify the South Korean government’s rationale for pursuing stronger self-defense,” he added. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is an update of one of the events occurring as part of the Freedom Shield exercise that has North Korea so upset:

 South Korea and the United States are conducting combined high-tech military drills with increased “intensity and realism,” the Army here said Monday, as part of joint efforts to bolster deterrence against growing North Korean threats.

The drills are under way at the Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC), a facility employing cutting-edge technologies for realistic ground drills, in Inje, 165 kilometers east of Seoul. The maneuvers are to run through Friday, in connection with the allies’ ongoing Freedom Shield exercise.

For the drills, the U.S. military deployed a battalion-size unit for the first time. The South mobilized wheeled-armored vehicles and reconnaissance drones, while the U.S. brought Stryker armored vehicles and other assets.

The latest drills are divided into two three-day parts of separate defense and attack operations to heighten its “intensity and realism,” according to the armed service. Previous KCTC sessions were held for four days in total.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.