Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

ROK Air Force officially starts “Red Flag Alaska”

The Korea Air Force took off from Seosan base to participate in “Red Flag Alaska” on September 25 and arrived at Eileson Air Force Base, Alaska, after they refueled in the air during the flight. On October 6, their training officially started. 

The Air Force successfully completed accompanying training such as their own training, in-briefing and familiarization flight.

Training for the fighter consists of air interdiction, which attacks main facilities such as the enemy’s command post; offensive counterair, which supports air power for our fighter who charges into the enemy camp to carry out air interdiction operations; defensive counterair, which intercepts an enemy plane penetrating to us in midair; and time critical target offensive training, which attacks targets in real time. There are also live ordnance training, dropping a precision guided munition such as GBU-10, GBU-12, JDAM and so on. For the live ordnance training, it is conducted at an inland shooting range rather than on the sea, the usual method in Korea.

Moreover, it is possible to simulate ground-to-air threats similar to wartime as well as go through a deliberate attack training for moving targets as offensive force training is linked with live ordnance drop training. The Air Force is expecting to extend not only the combat ability of KF-16, the main fighter of the Air Force, but also the ability of combat planning, space management, tactics and techniques, offensive force, etc., evenly through Red Flag Alaska.

Colonel Hong Sun-taek, the commander of the training group, said, “I’ll make my best efforts to complete the mission successfully and raise the Korean Air Force’s status with the best concentration and teamwork at the Red Flag Alaska training that starts on October 6.”

By Seung-Bok, Lee < yhs920@dema.mil.kr >
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