SEOUL — South Korean F-15K pilots spent three days at Kunsan Air Base last week, training for their first-ever appearance in the international Red Flag exercise later this year.
Last week’s exercise marked the first time South Korean F-15Ks participated in a “Buddy Wing” exercise with the U.S. Air Force F-16s, officials said. The exercise focused on preparing the South Koreans for Max Thunder, a special exercise being held at Kunsan in June to help them get ready for Red Flag.
The Kunsan training focused on what the South Korean pilots can expect and what’s expected of them during Red Flag, to be held at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., said Capt. Chris Jones, exercise mission commander.
The South Korean pilots met Kunsan pilots in the air and trained on Wednesday. After landing, they spent the rest of Wednesday and Thursday on planning and academics, Jones said. Kunsan and U.S. pilots flew in a combined exercise on Friday, he said.
“A lot of our basic tactics are the same or very similar,” Jones said. “The whole objective of this was to work on our interoperability a little bit.
“We’ll go and land at their base and they’ll go and land at ours, just to get familiar with how the other operates,” Jones said. “Anytime we can work with outside units with different kinds of aircraft, I think it’s a good experience for us. We can learn more about what their specific capabilities are and how it can complement ours.”
