Over 250 Latest US-South Korea Fighter Jets to Gather Again This Month

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] South Korea and the United States will conduct a large-scale joint air exercise called 'Vigilant ACE' starting at the end of this month. This is seen as a strong warning to North Korea amid concerns that it may conduct its 7th nuclear test between the end of this month, when the Chinese Party Congress concludes, and before the U.S. midterm elections on November 8.

According to the military on the 18th, South Korea and the U.S. will carry out a comprehensive combat readiness exercise in Korean airspace from the 31st of this month to the 4th of next month. About 140 aircraft including F-35A, F-15K, and KF-16 from South Korea, and about 100 aircraft including F-35B and F-16 from the U.S. will participate.

This exercise has been held under the name 'Vigilant ACE' since 2015. However, after the largest-scale exercise in 2017, denuclearization talks between North Korea and the U.S. progressed, resulting in only South Korean Air Force solo exercises and small-scale joint air exercises below battalion level in 2018, and no exercise at all in 2019. Vigilant ACE aims to enhance the implementation capability of the all-weather combined Korea-U.S. operational plan (Pre-ATO). The Pre-ATO, an air mission order, assigns missions to each fighter jet to strike hundreds of key North Korean targets at once during wartime. It is known that South Korea and the U.S. plan to practice scenarios such as North Korean target detection and air penetration using the Pre-ATO method in this exercise as well.

The F-35B participating in this exercise is stationed at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan. Unlike the F-35A, it is capable of vertical takeoff and landing, allowing it to operate from aircraft carriers. Following the deployment of F-35A in July and the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76, 103,000 tons) from September 23 to October 8, U.S. strategic assets are entering the Korean Peninsula one after another, realizing the 'timely coordinated deployment of strategic assets' agreed upon at the May Korea-U.S. summit.

The last time South Korea and the U.S. conducted a joint air exercise of this scale was in December 2017. In response to North Korea's large-scale provocations such as the 6th nuclear test on September 2017 and the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test launch in November, about 260 military aircraft including B-1B strategic bombers from both countries were mobilized over the Korean Peninsula in December of that year.

This exercise is being held at a time when North Korea's preparations for the 7th nuclear test have been completed, and tensions have sharply escalated due to recent intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launches and violations of the September 19 military agreement, indicating that South Korea and the U.S. view the current situation as seriously as in 2017.

Meanwhile, the Australian Air Force will also participate in this exercise, providing an opportunity to strengthen cooperation among allies in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia, which signed a mutual air refueling support agreement with the South Korean Air Force last month, will dispatch air refueling aircraft and others for this exercise.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.