Here is an example of a unique ROK Air Force unit:
A fleet of FA-50 light-attack fighters on a flight mission in an Air Force photo. [YONHAP]
The Air Force’s 8th Fighter Wing is emerging as a symbol of South Korea’s growing independent military capabilities, with its combat fleet consisting only of domestically developed warplanes, officials said Sunday.
The unit in Wonju, Gangwon, has two operators of the FA-50 fighter – the 103rd Fighter Squadron and the 203rd Fighter Squadron – and the 237th Tactical Control Squadron running the KA-1 airfield control aircraft.
The FA-50 is a light-attack fighter based on the design of the T-50 trainer jet manufactured by the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the country’s sole aircraft maker.
Armed with AIM-9, AGM-65G and other missiles, the plane can conduct air-to-air and air-to-ground operations.
Fortunately no one was killed from this accidental firing of a Cheolmae-2 missile which is South Korea’s equivalent of a Patriot missile:
Cheolmae-2 Launcher
The inadvertent launch of an anti-aircraft missile at a military base in Chuncheon, Gangwon, on Monday was the result of maintenance accident, the South Korean Air Force said on Thursday.
After it was launched from a vehicle during a routine maintenance check, the Cheongung medium-range surface-to-air (SAM) missile exploded mid-air at around 10:38 p.m. on Monday. There were no casualties, nor was there property damage, but the accident spurred an investigation by the Air Force.
Following an on-site inspection and testimonies from witnesses, investigators concluded that the launch was unintentionally triggered by human error during a routine maintenance check.
“During regular check-ups, mechanics are supposed to disconnect a cable plugged into the missile used in real operations and plug in a testing cable, but the communication between the mechanics was unclear and the check-up was performed without disconnecting the operational cable,” said an Air Force spokesman. “This caused the test launch signal transmitted by the mechanics’ laptop to trigger a launch, and the missile exploded mid-air around 3.5 seconds after launch due to its automatic self-destruction system.”
The missile is equipped with a mechanism that causes it to explode in the event of guidance system failures after launch, according to the Air Force’s briefing on the accident on Monday.
Also known as the Cheolmae-2, the Cheongung SAM system was developed by the domestic arms producer Agency for Defense Development (ADD) based on the Russian 50R6 Vityaz and S-400 Triumf systems. Each missile costs around 1.5 billion won ($1.3 million) to produce, and a total budget of 1.2 trillion won has been allocated toward the project as a whole.
Moon admin plan to dismantle the strongest Mechanized Forces in S.Korea.This particular Force is Korean War Legend which known to demolished 3 N.K divisions during Korean War. Soldiers in this group even salute each other "Strike North!"to boost morale.https://t.co/youmwnafqi
Silly season between the ROK and Japan continues. I expect the ROK government will continue to push anti-Japanese issues to their domestic audience up to the March 1st Independence Movement Day holiday:
Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo leaves the ministry headquarters in Seoul on Jan. 23, 2019. (Yonhap)
South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo has instructed the Navy to sternly deal with the repeated low-altitude flybys by Japanese warplanes, describing them as “a serious provocation by an ally,” his ministry said Saturday. He made the remarks during his unscheduled visit to the Fleet Command in the southern port city of Busan, the ministry said later in a release. The minister was briefed on the details regarding multiple close-range flights by Japanese maritime patrol planes toward South Korean destroyers in recent weeks.
South Korea’s military on Thursday released five photos captured from two videos of a Japanese warplane’s “threatening” low-altitude flyby close to its destroyer a day earlier. The disclosure came as Tokyo rejected Seoul’s claim that its P-3 maritime patrol plane buzzed by South Korea’s 4,500-ton destroyer Daejoyeong at an altitude of 60 to 70 meters and just 540 meters away in international waters south of the peninsula on Wednesday. The Korean Navy filmed what it called Japan’s “provocative” flight with an infrared camera and handheld camcorder on the destroyer during the incident that sharply heightened tensions between the neighbors. Seoul initially mulled releasing the videos but decided later to disclose just still photos, apparently in line with its stance to “act with restraint.”
You can read more at the link, but notice how the ROK uses the term “buzzed”. I don’t think they quite understand that when the term is used in English people generally think of an aircraft flying right over the observer. In this case the Japanese plane was over half a kilometer away from the ship.
The stupidity between Japan and South Korea has gotten worse:
Suh Wook, chief director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reads a statement from the Ministry of National Defense over the “provocative” low-altitude flight of a Japanese patrol aircraft close to a South Korean warship, Wednesday. / Yonhap
A Japanese maritime patrol aircraft carried out a low-altitude flight close to a South Korean warship Wednesday afternoon, in an apparent threatening and provocative action, according to the Ministry of National Defense.
“The P3 maritime patrol airplane flew at an altitude of 60 to 70 meters and about 540 meters away from the South Korean Navy’s destroyer in waters near Ieodo, [a rock southwest of the southern island of Jeju] at around 2:03 p.m., Wednesday,” the ministry said.
In response, the South Korean Navy lodged a strong complaint about the incident through a hot line, urging Japan to stop the recurrence of such acts. The Navy also said it will take steps for self-defense if Japan repeats such an “obvious provocation.”
The Navy said that the destroyer perceived the move as a security threat, adding that Japan should make it clear the exact reason for the low-level flight.
According to the ministry, Japan replied that it was “very inappropriate” for South Korea to threaten to take self-defense measures, as Japan is an ally and the Navy must have been able to discern that the aircraft belonged to the allied country.
You can read more at the link, but some how I doubt the ROK sailors on the ship were in a panic from a propellor driven P-3 flying 540 meters from their ship.
Remember the 100th anniversary of the March 1st Independence Movement is occurring soon. I would not be surprised if the Moon administration tries to get anti-Japanese sentiment to an all-time high, especially if he is able to get Kim Jong-un to visit Seoul that day.
I wonder how long it will be before these F-35’s are in a photo op flying over Dokdo?:
South Korea will acquire two stealth fighters from the United States in late March, allowing the country to fly the latest fifth-generation aircraft in the world, sources said Sunday.
The two F-35A jets will arrive in Seoul, and they will likely be assigned to combat units that defend the country starting in April or May, several insiders familiar with the matter said.
South Korea has agreed to purchase 40 F-35As in a 2014 contract. The jets are designed to evade detection and have the latest electronics suite that can allow them to be effective even in well defended airspace. A single plane is reportedly priced at around 120 billion won (US$107.5 million). Korea may buy 20 additional F-35s as the Air Force has requested more assets.
Someone should have asked the ROK defense minister what he meant by countering threats in all directions? Does he Japan is a military threat against South Korea?:
Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo speaks during a parliamentary session at the National Assembly in Seoul on Jan. 9, 2019. (Yonhap)
South Korea will increase defense spending by an average of 7.5 percent each year over the next five years with a focus on building “independent capabilities to counter threats from all directions,” Seoul’s defense ministry said Friday. The ministry announced its defense blueprint for the 2019-2023 period, during which it wants to spend 270.7 trillion won (US$241.9 billion) — 94.1 trillion won on improving defense capabilities and the rest on managing troops, equipment and facilities. Under the plan, the ministry seeks to increase the country’s defense budget, which stands at 46.7 trillion won this year, to 50.3 trillion won for 2020, 54.1 trillion won for 2021, 57.8 trillion won for 2022 and 61.8 trillion won for 2023.
The first criticism in the video is that the Japanese aircraft flew at a low and threatening altitude. Here is a screen capture from the ROK perspective of the patrol plane. Does this look like a threatening aircraft?:
The next claim is that Japan is wrong about being in compliance with international law. The ROK video shows that the altitude and distance level the Japanese aircraft maintained was applicable only to civil aircraft according to international law:
This actually discredits Korea’s criticism because then the Japanese patrol aircraft could then fly at whatever altitude it wanted if there is no international standard military aircraft are held to. If there was a military standard between the ROK and Japan I would think they would have included it in the video.
The next claim in the video is that the Korean ship did not use its fire control radar against the Japanese plane. The video says the ship only had its search radar on. To counter the Japanese claim of the use of a fire control radar the video focuses on the fact that no guns from the ship were pointed at the aircraft. This is a completely separate issue that the Japanese side has never claimed. The issue was the use of the fire control radar.
The video also asks that if the fire control radar was used why didn’t the plane use emergency measures to escape. Watching the Japanese video it is clear the crew knew no weapons were pointed at them and thus likely did not feel threatened by the Korean ship.
The next claim is that the Japanese radio communications were unclear. The video had just one short snippet of audio which was unclear. However, there was much more broadcasts by the Japanese plane. I can understand though how trying to understand English spoken with a Japanese accident over a radio could be difficult for the crew on the ROK ship to understand.
Regardless the whole radio issue is really not important compared to the fire control radar issue. The ROK video concludes demanding that the Japanese release their radar data. The technology that nation’s use to collect radar frequency data is sensitive information that I would be surprised is released. However supposedly the Japanese are now considering it:
The South Korean video is “awful,” a senior Defense Ministry official said, adding, “We have to keep rebutting.” The official noted that the South Korean video did not include radio messages sent by the Japanese patrol plane to the South Korean destroyer, which had been on the Japanese video. Depending on the responses of South Korea, Tokyo is considering releasing radar wavelength data, usually a military secret, as additional evidence for its claim, sources familiar with the situation said. Frustration is growing among an increasing number of Japanese government officials at South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s failure to act to resolve tensions over the incident.
Overall in my opinion the ROK video is not convincing, but will likely serve well for the domestic audience in Korea. Does anyone else have any other opinions on the ROK video?
Finally what is really amazing about this whole issue is that between most other countries this would likely be resolved internally between defense ministries instead of being fought over on Youtube. However, as we have seen with so many issues between ROK and Japan domestic politics get involved. As I have said repeatedly the Chinese and the North Koreans are loving this.
Enlisted soldiers will be allowed to stay off base for about four hours after hours during weekdays starting in February as part of efforts to protect the rights of conscripts. The Defense Ministry on Thursday announced a set of new guidelines that will allow soldiers to leave their base from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. up to twice a month. They can meet family and friends, pursue their studies or enjoy themselves as long as their fitness for combat is not affected. Currently conscripts are confined to the district where their barracks is for fear that they will not make it back in time in an emergency. But in future they can travel as far as a two-hour drive from their base. Some small businesses near bases were against the plan because they were afraid of losing customers, and some pundits warned the plans could affect discipline. But a ministry spokesman said, “We’re going to rely on common sense when we let soldiers spend time off base.”
