US Air Power in Korean

US Air Power

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Apilot with the unlikely call sign Armchair prepares for a combat take-off in an A-10C Thunderbolt II, or Warthog attack aircraft at Osan Air Base, South Korea.

Armchair is just one cog in the mighty machine that is US air power on the Korean Peninsula. His out t, the 25th Fighter Squadron or Assam Dragons, has the only A-10s within range of North Korean armoured columns massed astride the Korea demarcation line. Feet on brakes,

Armchair says. Flaps are down. Military power. You get clearance to go. You release the brakes and you move like a bat out of hell.

The idea behind a combat take-off an unof cial term is an attempt to counter the threat from hostile partisans lurking just outside the wire with MANPADs (man-portable air defence systems, ie shoulder-mounted missiles). Today, no war drums are being pounded and no North Korean special operations paratroopers are hiding in the entertainment district of Songtan-ni outside the main gate, but the Dragons practise as if theyre in the crosshairs.

Take-off TimeFirst in a two-ship element, Armchairs gull-grey A-10C leaps off the brakes and hurtles down Osans 9,004ft (2,744m) runway in the near future, to become twin parallel runways and lifts abruptly into the air.

Flaps and gear come up with haste. Instead of an easy, gradual ascent, the A-10C vaults into a sharp climb-out, as if aiming for the top of the sky directly from runways end. To the naked eye, the A-10C appears to be climbing straight up at 90. It isnt capable of that; the angle isnt really quite that sharp but Armchair is getting his Warthog to altitude in the near-vertical as fast as he can. If this were a real-world con ict situation, anyone with a shoulder-mounted missile in the neighbourhood around Osan would be hard-pressed to nail Armchair before he pulls out of range. But then, if this were the real thing, Armchair would be heading north hauling 30mm armour-piercing rounds and AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles to kill North Korean tanks.

When AIR International went to press with this story, the Korean AIR International went to press with this story, the Korean AIR Internationalpeninsula was about as calm as it ever gets, the guns were silent, and no missiles were stalking A-10Cs. But the US airmen and aircraft that practise the profession of aerial arms in Korea know everything can change within minutes.

Moreover, calm is not the same as peaceful. The Korean War began in 1950 but never ended. The July 27, 1953 armistice was signed by the commanders of the three armies in the eld the United Nations

US AIR POWER IN KOREA MILITARY

US Air Power in Korea

Robert F Dorr provides an overview of American air operations of the 7th Air Force

based in the Republic of Korea. Photography by Jim Haseltine

All im

ages Jim H

aseltine

The Republic of Korea and US ags y in front of the 8th Fighter Wing

Headquarters.

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MILITARY US AIR POWER IN KOREA

Command (UNC); the Korean Peoples Army (KPA) and the Chinese Peoples Volunteers but never by any government. Although the Chinese dropped out of the truce process, armistice negotiations between the UNC and the KPA continue unabated at the joint security area at Panmunjom.

These talks have never accomplished much, retired US Air Force Major General Felix Rogers told the Associated Press in 1975. Rogers is a World War Two P-51 Mustang ghter ace and was the UNC armistice negotiator from 1970 to 1971. At the same time, it has been effective in the sense that we have talked. We rave at Panmunjom to let off steam. During one meeting in his era, Rogers confronted a North Korean negotiator who pounded his sts on the table. In a recent conversation with the author, Rogers said the truce negotiations need to continue but are unlikely to lead to a peace treaty ofcially ending the Korean War. If they ever ask me to go back to Korea, Ill ask them for the cockpit of an F-16 rather than the fountain pen I used at Panmunjom.

Several times in recent years, North Korea has called the armistice invalid and threatened to open up a new round of ghting.

If they do, theyll nd US air power at a high state of readiness. I will continue ensuring we are ready to ght tonight, US and joint-forces air commander Lieutenant General Jean-Marc Jouas told reporters during a press conference, alluding to the strong US preference to do battle during the nocturnal hours. Jouas said US airmen represent our nation proudly and reinforce the tremendous alliance we have with the Republic of Korea [ROK] the ofcial term for South Korea.

At a different press conference, Jouas said, We mean it when we say we have to be ready to ght tonight because North Korean airspace is just ve minutes away.

Jouas is a respected pilot and leader, with the F-4G Advanced Wild Weasel, F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in his logbook. Hes both UNC Korea deputy commander and the boss at Seventh Air Force. He reports to the four-star US Army general who heads the UNC and US forces in Korea, currently Gen Curtis Scaparrotti who arrived in Korea last October. Scaparrotti is a paratrooper and former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division with broad experience in the international arena. Jouass deputy is Brigadier General Russell Mack, an experienced F-15E Strike Eagle and A-10 pilot.

1Two South Korean soldiers stand guard at the entrance to Kunsan Air Base. 2 Maintenance techni-cians move an ALQ-184 pod onto a stand to prepare it for inspection. 3 Weapons technicians move an

AIM-9X Sidewinder missile into a hardened aircraft shelter to load onto an F-16C at Kunsan. 4 Munitions troops prepare AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles for loading onto F-16Cs at Kunsan.

5 Munitions troops upload a 1,000lb GBU-31 JDAM on to an F-16C assigned to the 80th Fighter Squadron 6 An F-16 pilot assigned to the 35th Fighter Squadron checks an ALQ-184 pod during

a pre-ight inspection. 7 A pilot performs pre-ight checks on a 2,000lb GBU-24 before a mission from Kunsan.

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The US Air Force maintains four ghter squadrons permanently on the Korean peninsula one with F-16s and one with A-10C Thunderbolt IIs at Osan and, two with F-16s at Kunsan Air Base. The ghters are Block 40 F-16C/F-16D models that have been modernised under the Common Con guration Implementation Program (CCIP). They are compatible with night-vision equipment, advanced targeting pods and satellite-guided munitions. The CCIP upgrade includes compatibility with the AN/ASQ-213 HARM Targeting System (HTS), which enables Block 40 Fighting Falcons to use the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) to home in on enemy radar emissions. The few HTS kits in the air force inventory are apparently all stockpiled at Kunsan.

In addition to the four ghter squadrons, Jouas relies heavily on plans to rapidly reinforce air strength in Korea at half a dozen locations where bed-down space is kept ready. The presence of a deployed Theatre Security Package (TSP) at Kunsan an additional F-16 squadron deployed from the United States is a constant. Most of the

time, Kunsan, in effect, has an extra F-16 squadron based there, thanks to ongoing TSP deployments.

South Koreas air arm, the Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF), which would come under the command of Lieutenant General Jean-Marc Jouas in wartime, operates a mix of 118 F-16C and 51 F-16D Block 30 and Block 52 variants. The Block 30s, locally assembled in the 1990s and often called KF-16s, have been updated with Link 16 data link, GPS-guided munitions capability, and AIM-120C AMRAAM missiles all of which were built into the Block 52s from the start.

All F-16s in Korea, USAF and RoKAF, can carry ordnance that was designed long after the aircraft were, such as the 1,000lb (454kg) GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM).

The RoKAFs primary frontline ghter force comprises 61 F-15K Slam Eagles delivered in two batches between 2005 and 2012. Two-seat and dual-role, with air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities, the F-15K is billed as more survivable, lethal and maintainable than the F-15E Strike Eagle operated by the US Air Force.

In a con ict with North Korea the F-15Ks

are expected to handle a signi cant part of the air-to-air battle and, subsequently, to use their long-range, all-weather strike capability. The Slam Eagle is very well regarded and yet of cials in Seoul have made it clear they see the F-15 as being more about their past than the key to their future. That responsibility is given to the F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

Boeing, maker of the F-15, was overjoyed when its F-15SE Silent Eagle, an advanced derivative of the F-15E/F-15K, survived as the sole competitor in South Koreas next-generation ghter competition, known as F-X III, last year. Boeing said the F-15SE would feature radar-evading stealth capability (a core requirement in the competition), be painted with radar-absorbent coatings and equipped with conformal weapons bays.

When South Korea decided not to buy the F-15SE after all, of cials in Seoul announced that theyd made a mistake when they dropped the F-35A from F-X III and nominated the latter as the leading candidate for their next ghter. This was bad news for the Boeing (previously McDonnell Douglas) production line in

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St Louis, Missouri that has assembled American ghters since the 1950s.

While formalities have not yet been worked out, South Korea is now expected to purchase 60 F-35As. Critics accuse Korean air staff of cers of drinking Kool-Aid slang for buying the of cial line about stealth and its importance in modern war. However, their new position puts them in line with the Pentagon, which sees the F-35A as a universal remedy. Gen Herbert Carlisle, the Hawaii-based commander of Paci c Air Forces told me that Paci c Air Forces will receive the rst OCONUS F-35As as soon as theyre ready, OCONUS meaning outside the continental United States. Basing decisions for US Air Force F-35As in the Paci c have not yet been made, let alone announced.

North Korean ThreatSo what are Jouas and other commanders looking at when they prepare for the war they

hope will never come?North Korea announced the detonation of

its third nuclear device on February 12, 2013. A month later, Pyongyang proclaimed that the 1953 armistice is now invalid. Worse, North Koreas military stated that it was authorised to attack the United States not just South Korea using smaller, lighter and diversi ed nuclear weapons. The Korean Peoples Army top command declares that all artillery troops, including strategic rocket units and long-range artillery units, are to be placed under class-A combat readiness, Pyongyangs Korean Central News Agency said on April 9, 2013. The sabre rattling with its unprecedented threat against US soil included a threat to transform Seoul into a sea of re. However, the bombast died down last summer and has not been repeated recently.

No one thinks North Korea is anywhere near developing a delivery system for an atomic bomb or is unaware that a nuclear

attack would necessitate a US response in kind. Still, thinking about the unthinkable can be disturbing. South Korea has a booming economy and a high standard of living, with literacy rates, educational standards and internet connectivity exceeding those of the United States and Western Europe. But all of South Koreas wealth and a third of its population is in Seoul, just three dozen miles south of the demarcation line. A single nuclear event would in ict more deaths and damage than anything that happened at Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

The real threat, the real problem, is the danger of a conventional war launched by Pyongyang. In a landmark intelligence study that occupied hundreds of people for more than a year, in 1976 the US Armys Intelligence and Security Command concluded that a North Korean armoured assault would be able to seize Seoul in 72 hours and all of Korea in seven days. No study of this magnitude has been conducted since but intelligence sources told this magazine that the conclusions reached almost four decades ago are still widely accepted. Some, however, say this is a worst case conclusion and that it underestimates the potential for rushing reinforcements to the defence of the south.

The North Korean air force (of cially, the air arm of the Korean Peoples Army, or Pukhan Inmin Gun) has about 1,100 aircraft including about 500 ageing but frontline MiG-17, MiG-19, MiG-21 and MiG-23 ghters in Soviet- and Chinese-built versions. Even North Koreas 40 MiG-29Bs are far from new and theyre armed as interceptors, for the defence of Pyongyang but although the aircraft are old they are well maintained and pose a formidable threat.

The North Korean bomber force includes about 40 Ilyushin Il-28 Beagle twin-engine

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light bombers. Experts disagree as to whether these are the Soviet- or Chinese-built versions. The Il-28s remain fully operational as bombers with suf cient range to reach any UNC installation on the peninsula.

North Korean President Kim Jong-un, who is also supreme commander of the KPA visited a MiG-29B Fulcrum regiment in January 2013 and posed with pilots in front of a MiG-29 whose colour scheme seems to have been inspired by Kermit the Frog.

Jouas and others believe existing defences can cope with Pyongyangs frontline ghters. Col John Pearse, a recent commander at Kunsan, pointed out that the bulk of them are teenage MiGs, meaning MiG-17s and MiG-19s. The RoKAFs F-15K Slam Eagles, again, have primary responsibility for the air-to-air role but would be augmented at very short notice by F-15C Eagles or F-22 Raptors brought in from outside. Well have a lot of aces in the rst few hours of a new war, said retired Lt Gen Charles He ebower, one of Jouass predecessors. He ebower cited three threats widely considered more dif cult to defend against Scud-type ballistic missiles, chemical weapons, and North Korean special operations forces.

In the rst hours of a war, Osan and Kunsan would come under attack by short-range ballistic missiles with chemical warheads and by thousands of special operations combatants. Special-ops paratroopers would reach Osan via airdrop from an aircraft that has proven almost impossible to detect on radar, the Antonov An-2 Colt. Other North Korean special-ops troops would attack the more distant Kunsan from the sea. It is almost impossible to exaggerate how much the prospect of a nocturnal incursion by hundreds of the geriatric, linen-covered biplanes worries Jouas and the UNC staff. In the 1970s,

the author participated in tests, as the likeliest defence against the An-2, of a radar-equipped YOV-10D Bronco Night Observation Gunship System (NOGS) with a belly-mounted M197 20mm cannon and a forward-looking infrared turret in the nose. Today, the only defence against the Antonov is a ghter or a Patriot missile. Patriots guard Osan, Kunsan and other key installations.

Osan Air BaseOsan, known in earlier years as K-55, is the biggest air base in Korea. It was constructed during the Korean War. In September 2013, a contractor began laying the rst sections of a much-needed, second parallel runway but after completing about 300ft paving work was suspended during the winter.

Modern billets have replaced the Quonset huts and Butler Buildings in which the author resided while stationed at Osan from 1958 to 1960. In the very centre of the base is Hill 180, named for its height in metres, site of

the last bayonet charge in modern history led by Medal of Honor recipient Capt Lewis Lee Millett on February 7, 1951.

Osan is overcrowded, housing is at a premium, and there is tension between airmen serving a remote one-year tour of duty and those pulling a three-year, accompanied tour. There is also tension between the base and nightclub owners in Songtan-ni, just outside the main gate. Over the years authorities have conducted periodic crackdowns on alcohol, drugs and prostitution in Songtan-ni.

Boozing and carousing in Songtan-ni has been tamed down not so much because of the authorities but because culture has changed in todays all-volunteer US Air Force, which has more married members than singles.

Just as it did decades ago, the leadership at Osan periodically publishes a roster of establishments in Songtan-ni that are off limits to US military personnel.

1 Two Osan F-16s break away from each other on a training mission. 2 A-10C Thunderbolt IIs

in the Hog Pen at Osan. 3 A pilot climbs aboard a Block 40 F-16C parked in a hardened aircraft

shelter at Kunsan.

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In addition to being headquarters for the Seventh Air Force, Osan is home to the 51st Fighter Wing, commanded by Col Brook Leonard, which has the 25th Fighter Squadron Assam Dragons ying the A-10C Thunderbolt IIs and the 36th Fighter Squadron Flying Fiends equipped with Block 40 F-16C Fighting Falcons.

In recent years the wing, and by association everyone on the base, has become known as the Mustangs. The emblem of a running horse appears on the headquarters building. The choice of name is odd, because the 51st was historically called the Checkertails and some of its A-10Cs still wear black and white squares on the n. Airmen on the base call Leonard, or whoever occupies the wing commanders slot, Mustang One.

Also stationed at Osan but not part of the parent wing is the 5th Reconnaissance Squadron Black Cats, which operates the U-2S reconnaissance aircraft. Pentagon plans to replace the U-2S with the RQ-4B

Block 30 Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft have been on hold for the last two years. A variety of US warplanes pull temporary duty at Osan, ranging in size and shape from the F-22 Raptor to the HH-60G Pave Hawk.

At both Osan and Kunsan, everything is indoors: it is not unusual to see an F-16 or a U-2 practising a combat take-off that sudden, sharp climb out to evade shoulder-mounted missiles in the hands of anyone beyond the air eld perimeter but when not ying, aircraft are kept inside hardened aircraft shelters, known as hazzes.

Also at Osan is the 607th Air and Operations Group, which manages the combined air operations centre or CAOC Jouass command post.

Kunsan Air BaseThe US base at Kunsan, called K-8 in times past, sits on coastal ats in the Korean southwest with a single plateau rising above the atland near one end of its concrete Runway 18R/36L. Kunsan is home to

the F-16-equipped 8th Fighter Wing Wolf Pack, which has two squadrons of Block 40 F-16C/D the 35th Fighter Squadron Pantons and the 80th Fighter Squadron Juvats. The wing shares ramp space with the RoKAFs F-16-equipped 38th Fighter Group.

The wing commander is Col William Uhle Jr. Airmen on the base call Uhle, or whoever occupies the commanders slot, the Wolf. The F-16 assigned to Uhle is the only one with a wolfs head silhouette on the n, the word Wolf beneath it, and a n ash combining the blue and gold colours of the wings two squadrons.

Unlike Osan, Kunsan has no spouses or children to be concerned about; for decades, it has been the only air force base outside a war zone where everyone pulls an unaccompanied tour. The arrangement exists because Kunsan was built in a location where expansion isnt possible and everybody is cramped. New construction of billets for airmen has helped make life more

1 An F-16C from the 35th Fighter Squadron prepares to shut down after the Elephant Walk staged at Kunsan on March 2, 2012. 2 A RoKAF F-16 taxies from a hardened aircraft shelter for another training mission at Kunsan. 3 A Block 40 F-16C from the 35th Fighter Squadron releases two 2,000lb GBU-24 laser-guided bombs during a training mission. 4 A Block 40 F-16C from the Kunsan Air Base releases two 1,000lb GBU-12s. 5 A Block 50 RoKAF F-16D from the 38th Fighter Group taxies at Kunsan Air Base. 6 F-16s from four US Air Force and one RoKAF squadrons perform an Elephant Walk during a large force exercise at Kunsan on March 2, 2012. 7 A crew chief signals the pilot to stop. 8 A 25th Fighter Squadron A-10C taxies around the Hog Pen at Osan.

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comfortable at Kunsan but opinions differ as to whether the remote tour enhances camaraderie or erodes morale.

Like Osan but for a different reason, namely its isolation and insularity, Kunsan is overcrowded in terms of operational needs and also in terms of living space. One recent deployment of a Theatre Security Package the term for bringing in an extra ghter squadron from outside faced issues with facilities, housing, communication, and aircraft parking that was less than ideal, according to a press release.

Recent construction has given Kunsan additional hardened aircraft shelters, but there now appears to be no spot on the base where more can be built. The base dates to 1938 when Japanese forces occupying Korea used it for a single, squadron-sized unit of ghters. The base has grown since a combat group of F-84G Thunderjets took up residence in 1951. The Wolf Pack took up residence in 1974.

The entertainment district in the adjacent town of Gunsan the same word in the Korean language, but spelled Kunsan by US ofcials is smaller than the one at Osan but offers its own versions of food, alcohol and companionship. Last October, the base felt compelled to put out a commentary by First Lieutenant Rachel Crawford lamenting human trafcking and the off-base sex trade. At Seventh Air Force headquarters, Jouas issued an order banning airmen from paying for sexual favours.

A senior pilot who uses the call sign Viper told AIR International that there is never enough ramp space at Kunsan or enough air space for training on the Korean peninsula. The narrow, crowded peninsula simply has no place for a large bombing and gunnery range. Unlike Osan which is getting a new, second runway, Kunsan has been repairing and repaving its runway in increments in response to normal operational wear and tear.

In spite of all these pressures, airmen at Kunsan have found an impressive way to show off US and South Korean air power and, indirectly at least, to send a message to the North. Its called the Elephant Walk.

Intended to demonstrate how effectively airmen can maintain and arm F-16s in a stressful and time-sensitive environment, combat-ready Fighting Falcons are occasionally arrayed and taxied along the runway, laden with ordnance and fuel and ready to y in whats known as an Elephant Walk. On March 2, 2012, Kunsans 8th Fighter Wing joined forces with the resident RoKAF 38th Fighter Group in a combined combat generation exercise and put no fewer

than 56 F-16s in an Elephant Walk. Also participating were deployed F-16s from the 421st Fighter Squadron, 388th Fighter Wing from Hill Air Force Base, Utah and the 55th Fighter Squadron from Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.

On short notice airmen, armed, fuelled, started up and taxied out F-16s. A press release described the event: The aircraft swept out of the hangars, one by one, joining together as an imperial march down the ight line. The aircraft were positioned on concrete exactly as we would do in wartime, said Viper.

This shows the resolve that we have as a team, the United States and the Republic of Korea forces, to defend the Republic of Korea at any time.

In the nale of the event, all 56 Fighting Falcons, engines turning, moved down the runway in an impressive four-abreast procession.

This assemblage of F-16s in one spot, ready for combat, drew a verbal protest from North Koreas government-run media.

Briey HomeSeemingly exiled for decades, none of the

four US combat squadrons in Korea has been stationed on US soil since World War Two but opportunities to train and y outside Korean airspace arise from time to time. The squadrons make periodic deployments to participate in exercise Red Flag Alaska (RFA), held four times a year (although not last year because of budget issues).

The 80th Fighter Squadron Juvats from Kunsan deployed 150 airmen and eight F-16s for RFA and a concurrent exercise, Distant Frontier, from July to September 2012. Participants included eight Euroghter Typhoons of the German Air Forces Jagdgeschwader 74 (JG 74 or Fighter Wing 74). Also present as part of the friendly Blue Force were US F-22 Raptors, Japanese F-15J Eagles and Polish F-16C/D Block 52 Fighting Falcons. The exercise was centred at Eielson Air Force Base where the aggressor, or Red Force, was equipped with F-16C Block 30s. The F-16s replicated North Korean MiG-29Bs and Chinese Chengdu J-10 ghters and simulated hostile electronic attacks using jamming pods.

In what may be particularly important in the context of air power on the Korean peninsula, the F-16s from Kunsan went to

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Alaska with HARM targeting pods for the concurrent Distant Frontier exercise. The aircraft undertook what used to be called the wild weasel mission and is today known as suppression of enemy air defences where the HTS is pitted against realistic ground radars operated by an adversary. Other exercises outside Korea include a recent deployment to Singapore.

While at home, US airmen work closely with their RoKAF colleagues. In the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Osan, American and South Korean of cers sit side-by-side and use the same intelligence information. From time to time, American and RoKAF ghter pilots and maintainers hold joint exercises and even get experience maintaining and ying each others aircraft. An exercise called Buddy Wing 14-1, held January 14 to 17, made it possible for American and South Korean F-16s to work together in preparation for participation in exercise Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada this summer.

The main difference between Red Flag and other training scenarios is the large number of aircraft in each ght, said Lt Col Luther Cross, the Wolf Packs chief of safety. Our normal ghts here [in Korea] are usually four versus two aircraft, but Red Flag could possibly have 50 versus 12 aircraft. Cross said RoKAF pilots bene t from the smaller, local exercise by getting used to having US controllers and Red Flag-style brie ngs and debrie ngs.

Also in

January, A-10C Warthog pilots and ground crew of the Osan-based Assam Dragons were among many at the base who conducted Exercise Beverly Midnight 14-01 (BM 14-01) practising to live, y and ght while wearing chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threat protection attire. As noted earlier, air commanders see chemical warheads delivered by North Korean ballistic missiles as a greater threat than any MiG-17. Osan-based medics participated in BM 14-01, practising triage in the handling of casualties. Asked whether he is comfortable in the relatively spacious cockpit of his A-10C wearing CBRN gear, the pilot who uses the call sign Armchair said that he can handle it but theres no denying its inconvenient.

In addition to rehearsing for chemical war, airmen at Osan and Kunsan undergo

constant training in survival, evasion, resistance and escape (SERE).

Following a practice begun during

the Vietnam War, each pilot in Korea prepares an isolated personnel report (ISOPREP), which is maintained electronically for use by combat rescue forces. The form includes a personal photo, a self-generated, four-digit authentication number, and an authentication statement. The statement is typically something like: While living in Norman, Oklahoma in 1998 I had a yellow Labrador retriever named Autumn. Each statement must contain enough facts to enable pararescuemen aboard a combat rescue helicopter to ask a downed crewmember up to four questions, such as, What was your dogs name in 1998.

Anyone who has ever struggled with passwords on a computer will recognise that this system for identifying downed airmen is imperfect. But if an F-16 jock really does nd himself on the ground in North Korea some day, hell have a bigger problem than remembering his dog.

In recent years, combat search and rescue

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US Air Power in Korean