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US F-22 stealth fighters of the USAF 1st Fighter Wing fly in formation near the city of Gwangju on Dec. 2, two days before the start of the Vigilant Ace joint military exercise. Vigilant Ace 18 will feature 230 aircraft and run from Dec. 4-8. (Yonhap News)
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Vigilant Ace will feature the unusual inclusion of both the US F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters
South Korea and the US are launching their five-day-long Vigilant Ace 18 air force exercise on Dec. 4. Unusually, the war games will include the F-22 and F-35, both state-of-the-art US stealth fighters. “My understanding is that US Air Force aircraft, including six F-22 Raptors and six F-35A Lightning II aircraft, have all arrived in South Korea for the Vigilant Ace exercise,” a South Korean military official said on Dec. 3. The South Korea and US Air Forces hold annual Max Thunder exercises in the first half of the year and Vigilant Ace exercises in the second. The latest war games are drawing attention for coming soon after North Korea’s test launch of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The inclusion of the F-22 and F-35 aircraft in Vigilant Ace is also seen as unusual. “The decision to hold the exercises was made before the Hwasong-15 launch, but it does look like they will be taking place at a delicate moment,” the military official said. “With the inclusion of the F-22 and other stealth aircraft, it has taken on the significance of showing a more powerful deterrent against the North.” Over 230 aircraft are taking part in the exercise, including 80 with the South Korean military and 150 with the US military. On the US side, the aircraft include six F-22 and six F-35A stealth fighters, 12 F-35Bs, six EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, around 10 F-15C and 10 F-16 fighters, the B-1B long-range bomber, and the E-3 early warning aircraft. On the South Korean side, they include the F-15K, KF-16, and F-15 fighters; the domestically produced FA-50 light combat aircraft; the domestically produced KA-1 tactical control aircraft; and the E-737 airborne control aircraft. Following a Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s statement the day before, North Korea blasted the exercises in a piece in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, calling the exercise a “foolish and dangerous provocation that thrusts the already tense political situation on the Korean Peninsula] even deeper toward the threat of nuclear war.” “The joint aerial exercise is an overt and direct challenge to US that could prove to be what touches off a nuclear war,” the newspaper warned. By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
