Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

“I’ve spent four days with the U.S. pilots. And it was a golden opportunity to understand them, strengthening teamwork and sharing know-how and countermeasures together.” (Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hyun-Hee, the commander of 102 squadron)

On February 4, Daegu Air Base was filled with sound of fighter engines. There were F-15Ks and F-16s preparing for takeoff to perform their tasks. The fighters left the runway and soared into the air, soon disappearing from sight.

The 102nd squadron of the 11th Fighter Wing and 80th squadron of the U.S. 8th Fighter Wing held 15-2nd Buddy Wing Exercise for four days, February 3 to 6. 

Our eight F-15Ks and the U.S.’s five F-16s engaged in this training, and its aim is to make the squadrons acquire tactics from each other and develop their operation ability. It was first time to have the training at the 11th FW.

The pilots from both countries had a back-briefing and tactical discussion in the morning before the flight. They drew considerations in action, shared know-how and exchanged information to strike the enemy target accurately. These combined forces had varied intensive training – air-to-air defense training against an enemy fighter penetrating Korean airspace, air-to-ground training for major facilities, ground-to-air arming, and tactical strike training for moving arms.

The training consisted of a wide range of missions including a defense counter air mission, an air interdiction mission, allied attacking formation mission, etc. After the training, they had a debriefing time to analyze the results and address any problems. 

“Even if it is the same flight mission, there are some differences between the Korean and U.S. air forces such as detailed execution procedures. I think it was a good time to learn know-how from each other. It was great help for us to have the best mission capability for defending our airspace,” said Lieutenant Im Won-Ho. 

And Major Dean Laansma said that he could see the Korea Air Force’s excellent mission capability and raise the combined mission capability between both countries.

For increasing the combined operations ability, the Korean and U.S. Air Forces have exchanged pilots to have training together. It started in the name of “Friendship Exercise” in 1991 and has been called “Buddy Wing Exercise” since 1998. They carry out this training four times a year. 

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

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