Six South Korean fighter jets departed for Alaska on Tuesday to join a U.S.-led air defense drill designed to beef up joint combat capacity, the Air Force said.

The six F-16Ds were to arrive at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, later in the day to join the Red Flag Alaska exercise, which will kick off Aug. 10 for a 12-day run, the Air Force said in a statement.

A total of 103 South Korean forces, including 32 combat pilots, will join the joint combat training exercise, commanded by the U.S. Pacific Air Force. A chartered South Korean passenger airplane and two transport planes will also join the session.

After touching down in Alaska, the pilots will undergo one week of pre-training to adapt themselves to the Alaskan airspace before joining the main exercise, according to the statement.

This is South Korea's third year of participation in the annual exercise. The Air Force's F-15K combat jets joined the multiplatform coordinated drill in 2013, and FK-16 fighters took part in 2014.

Before 2013, the South Korean Air Force dispatched transport helicopters on seven occasions to join the drill's transport segment, according to the statement.

This year's training will cover joint operations like airborne alert interdiction and midair escort in a war simulation. The South Korean Air Force will engage in a live-fire training using the GBU-31 bomb, the first of its kind to be operated by the country's F-16 fleet, the statement showed. 

"The joint drill is expected to help increase the ability of space management and combat fleet operations through exercises spanning all sectors," the Air Force noted.

 Following the drill, the South Korean fighters will fly back to the country's 19th Fighter Wing in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, on Aug. 25.

The combat jets were to fly about 8,100 kilometers nonstop to Alaska, a near 10-hour flight that's made possible by midair refueling 11 times from the U.S. Air Force's KC-135 aerial tanker, the statement said. (Yonhap)