South Korea and the United States will kick off a large-scale regular joint air exercise later this week, the South's Air Force said Sunday, in the latest drill meant to step up deterrence against North Korea's evolving military threats.
The 12-day Korea Flying Training will begin Monday at the Gwangju Air Base in Gwangju, 267 kilometers south of Seoul, mobilizing some 110 aircraft and more than 1,400 troops, according to the armed service.
South Korea plans to deploy some 60 warplanes, including F-35A, F-15K and KF-16 fighters and the KC-330 tanker transport aircraft, while the US will mobilize more than 40 aircraft, such as its Air Force's F-16 fighters, A-10 attack aircraft and the Marine Corps' F-35B and FA-18 jets.
The South's Air Force said the drills will take place with a focus on enhancing the interoperability and combined operational capability of the allies' advanced fourth and fifth generation fighters, such as the F-15K and radar-evading F-35 aircraft, respectively.
During the exercise, the allies will stage various training, including a strike package flight, defensive counter-air and close air support operations, it added.
"Through this exercise, (we) will be able to reaffirm the solid South Korea-US alliance and further develop the combined operational capability to another level," Col. Lee Beom-ki, chief of staff of the ROK Air Force Operations Command, was quoted as saying. ROK stands for the South's official name, the Republic of Korea.
The allies have staged a series of combined air exercises this year amid Pyongyang's continued saber-rattling.
Last Friday, they held joint air drills involving US B-52H strategic bombers, a day after Pyongyang test-fired what it claimed to be a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile. (Yonhap)
