Pursuing Air and Ground Drills Following Korea-US-Japan Maritime Exercises [Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club]

Next Month's Joint Exercise Plan Including US Strategic Bombers
First Trilateral Ground Training Among South Korea, US, and Japan If Conducted

South Korea, the United States, and Japan are planning joint air and ground combined exercises. Air training is scheduled to begin as early as next month. It would be the first time the three countries conduct joint ground exercises together.

The U.S. Air Force strategic asset B-52H 'Stratofortress' bomber landed in South Korea for the first time last October. At that time, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Kim Seung-gyeom visited the Air Force Cheongju Base where the aircraft was stationed and inspected the extended deterrence operational readiness.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 18th, a government official stated, “South Korea, the U.S., and Japan are planning a joint air exercise next month that will include U.S. strategic bombers,” adding, “We are discussing the schedule and the forces to be deployed.”

The three countries decided to regularize joint training between the South Korean and U.S. forces and the Japan Self-Defense Forces during the trilateral summit held last month at the U.S. presidential retreat, Camp David. While South Korea and the U.S. have frequently conducted joint exercises, including combined drills, trilateral military exercises involving Japan have not been regularized until now.

The upcoming South Korea-U.S.-Japan air exercise scheduled for next month will include U.S. strategic bombers. The three countries conducted two air exercises last year. During those exercises, the B-1B strategic bomber, known as the “Death Swan,” visited the Korean Peninsula. South Korea’s Air Force F-15K fighters, U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters, and Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 fighters participated, conducting training in the overlapping air defense identification zones (ADIZ) between South Korea and Japan east of Jeju Island. If Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force participates in next month’s exercise, it is expected to continue trilateral training and demonstrate a united stance against North Korea.

The U.S. strategic bomber is likely to be the B-1B again. Forward-deployed in Guam in the Pacific, it can reach the Korean Peninsula within two hours. Although it does not carry nuclear weapons, it can be armed with up to 57 tons of ordnance, which is superior to other strategic bombers such as the B-2 (22 tons) and B-52 (31 tons).

There has never been a joint ground forces exercise involving South Korea, the U.S., and Japan. A U.S. Department of Defense official said on the 27th of last month on Radio Free Asia (RFA) that “ground forces training is expected to be included in trilateral military exercise plans.” However, trilateral exercises on South Korean territory are practically impossible, as the presence of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force on Korean soil would not align with public sentiment. If trilateral ground forces training is pursued, large-scale exercises may be held at the National Training Center (NTC) located at Fort Irwin, California, while smaller-scale exercises could take place in locations such as Hawaii.

South Korea and the U.S. have been conducting joint exercises at the NTC since 2020. In 2022, over 100 soldiers from the Special Operations Command, including the 13th Special Mission Brigade, conducted joint special operations training with the U.S. at the NTC. There is a strong possibility that Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force will join this training. The U.S. NTC is a live-fire training area covering approximately 2,600 square kilometers of desert, more than 500 times the size of Yeouido, equipped with various training facilities such as simulated urban areas and cave training sites. It also served as the model for South Korea’s brigade-level training center, the Army Science Combat Training Group (KCTC), established in Inje, Gangwon Province, in 2002.

A military official said, “The three countries have already agreed on the real-time sharing system for ballistic missile warning information launched by North Korea, and we are making various plans related to trilateral exercises scheduled for 2024-25.”