It looks like USFK’s airpower could see a signficant increase if this news become reality:
The U.S. military is considering the permanent deployment of advanced F-35A radar-evading fighter jets to South Korea, a source said Sunday.
The deployment, if realized, would mark a major addition to U.S. air assets in South Korea, which consist mostly of older-generation F-16 fighter jets. F-35s have previously only been temporarily deployed for joint training.
“The U.S. military has a concept of permanently deploying F-35As at Kunsan Air Base,” the source said. “It will first deploy one squadron, and there is a possibility of rotationally deploying another squadron.”
A squadron is an Air Force unit made up of around 20 aircraft.
I can’t remember an 8th Army commander ever having such a short command, but LTG LaNeve is going on to do bigger and better things at the Pentagon:
After just a year leading American ground forces in South Korea, Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve relinquished command of the Eighth Army this week as he prepares for a new post as senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. During a Wednesday ceremony at Eighth Army headquarters, LaNeve formally passed command to Brig. Gen. Sean Crockett, his deputy, who will serve in an acting capacity until a permanent successor is nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate.
LaNeve assumed command April 5, 2024, and was nominated for his new role on March 25. His predecessor, Lt. Gen. Willard Burleson, served for four years, following nearly three years under Lt. Gen. Michael Bills. Speaking at the ceremony, LaNeve emphasized the enduring partnership between the United States and South Korea, a cornerstone of security on the peninsula since the end of the Korean War, according to a statement emailed Thursday by command spokesman James Choe.
One thing to remember about troop withdrawals you have to have some place to put them back in the U.S. Money would have to be spent to build the facilities to support relocating those troops. Right now 2ID is housed on a brand new base, Camp Humphreys paid for mostly by the ROK government:
U.S. military leaders in the Indo-Pacific presented negative views about the idea of a U.S. troop reduction in South Korea on Thursday, amid lingering concerns that the Trump administration could seek a troop cut or realignment to focus more on threats from China.
During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Commander Adm. Samuel Paparo Jr. warned the withdrawal or reduction of American troops from South Korea would raise a “higher” likelihood of a North Korean invasion, while U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson said a troop reduction would be “problematic.”
As U.S. President Donald Trump is charging ahead with his “America First” agenda, speculation has persisted that his administration could look to curtail overseas military involvement and call for allies to take greater responsibilities for their own security.
Here is the latest on USFK’s now operational plan to counter North Korea:
South Korea and the United States signed a new joint wartime operations plan (OPLAN) last year to counter evolving North Korean military threats, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea said Wednesday.
Gen. Xavier Brunson made the remarks in a written statement to the House Armed Services Committee, as Seoul and Washington have been deepening security coordination to deal with advancing North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile threats. He also leads South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) and U.N. Command.
“Last year, we took a significant step forward in our combat readiness when the new combined Operations Plan was signed,” Brunson said.
Remember the talk of “strategic flexibility” for USFK? Well this is what that looks like:
South Korea and the United States have recently agreed on a plan to temporarily deploy Patriot missile defense batteries from the South to the Middle East, sources said Friday, amid speculation over a potential shift in the role of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).
The allies agreed last month on the “monthslong” partial deployment of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3, the first known case involving the relocation of USFK assets to the Middle East, according to the sources.
The missiles work alongside South Korea’s own air defense assets in a multilayered missile defense system against North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats, according to the sources.
The rare move comes after U.S. broadcaster NBC News reported last week that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized at least two Patriot missile defense batteries from Asia to be moved to the Middle East as the U.S. takes military action against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
You can read more at the link, but does this become the new normal for USFK where units are regularly deployed off the peninsula to respond to needs elsewhere in the world?
South Korea has much better equipped and modern military than North Korea. I feel confident they can deter North Korea if some US troops were deployed off the peninsula:
Concerns are mounting in South Korea over a potential shift in the role of the 28,500 US troops stationed here amid evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
Such worries have existed for decades, but have been exacerbated following US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January, experts noted. The possibility of the second Trump administration diverting some of the USFK resources to help defend Taiwan against threats from China has fed worries that it would leave the South more vulnerable to the North’s provocations, they added.
“There are growing concerns over the potential scenario that Washington would leverage part of the US Forces stationed on the Korean Peninsula for broader regional security roles rather than limiting their role to deterring the North,” Yu Ji-hoon, director of external cooperation at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said via phone.
The allies have repeatedly stressed that the primary role of United States Forces Korea is to contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
You can read more at the link, but the concept of strategic flexibility for USFK is not a new concept and dates back to the early 2000’s. Additionally an entire heavy brigade was deployed from Korea to Iraq back in 2004 showing that units have deployed off the peninsula before.
I still remember the good old days when ajummas tent followed units around in the field and now there is an AAFES mobile exchange instead:
U.S. troops arriving here for the annual Freedom Shield exercise have access to snacks, beverages and cold-weather gear, thanks to a mobile field exchange set up for the first time in a decade. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service erected the mobile field exchange, or MFE, on this base south of Seoul as part of the large-scale defense training involving thousands of American and South Korean troops.
“One of our responsibilities is to ensure that the necessities of our airmen, soldiers and Marines supporting this exercise are met,” Air Force Col. Jeff Elliot, commander of Osan’s 51st Mission Support Group, told Stars and Stripes on Thursday. “And with that, we partnered with AAFES to make sure that we could get that quality of life.”
UPDATE #1: It is now being reported that not one, but two KF-16’s mistakenly bombed the village. I am not a fighter pilot, but how does something like this happen?:
Several people were injured Thursday in Pocheon city after two South Korean fighter jets accidentally released eight live bombs outside a practice range, according to South Korea’s air force. The MK-82 bombs were “abnormally” dropped at 10:04 a.m. Thursday beyond an unspecified live-fire range by a pair of KF-16 fighters, according to an air force statement to reporters that day. Each jet dropped four bombs, according to the air force. The bombs were not practice rounds, a Ministry of National Defense spokesman said by phone Thursday. The MK-82 is a 500-pound, 7-foot-long free-fall bomb also employed by the U.S. military. The KF-16 is the South Korean air force’s variant of the U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon. At least 15 people, including area residents, were injured in the incident, Yonhap News reported Thursday.
Original Posting: This a huge mistake that hopefully will not have repercussions on USFK’s continued use of Rodriguez Range as a live fire location:
An Air Force fighter jet on Thursday misdropped eight bombs outside a training range during live-fire drills, injuring civilians in the area, officials said.
The KF-16 fighter jet taking part in a live-fire exercise “abnormally” released eight MK-82 bombs outside the training range in Pocheon, 42 kilometers northeast of Seoul, at 10:04 a.m.
The Air Force said it is conducting an investigation into the accident and apologized for the damage to civilians.
You can read more at the link, but locals have complained about live fire training at Rodriguez Range near Pocheon. It will be interesting to see what caused this horrible accident because I have never heard of something like this ever happening before.
