However with more recent hopes that
pyongyang might resume talks, the current
exercise is being run without any media
fanfare. North Korea for its part has
traditionally complained about these
kinds of exercises whatever the scale. The drills the name of which is unknown
began yesterday according to a south
korea official talking anonymously to
the Yonhap News agency. In a statement to the agency the
republic of korea air force said, we
cannot comment on the exercise as it is
one, that is not disclosed to the media.
The U.S military has so far not released
any information either. Reports suggest the maneuvers will last
for five days and involve rock of F-15Ks
and f-16s alongside U.S air Force F-16s, among a total of around 200 aircraft
involved but that no equipment or troops
have been deployed from the us mainland
to take part. The permanent u.s air force combat
aircraft presence in south korea is
based around two fighter wings. The
eighth fighter wing at kunsan air base
with two squadrons of block 40 F-16 CDS and the 51st fighter wing at ocean air
base, with one squadron each of F-16 CDS and A10 cs.
Other assets include a squadron that
operates U-2's spy planes and a
detachment of HH-60G combat rescue
helicopters. In the past these regular exercises were
run under the nickname vigilantes and
were the largest joint air training
maneuvers between south korea and the
united states. They also had a notably
high profile in the media. Typical missions practiced include air
defense, long range strike, air
infiltration and closed air support of
ground forces.
In december 2017 for example more than
230 military aircraft and 12,000
personnel were involved. U.S Air Force F-22 and F-35A stealth
fighters deployed to Gwangju air base in South Korea from elmendorf air force
base in Alaska and Kadena air base in Japan, respectively drawing protests from Pyongyang. A USAF B-1B bomber out of anderson air
force base guam also flew over the Peninsula during the same maneuvers in
what was seen as a show of force to the
regime in pyongyang.
The following year the scheduled
vigilant ace in late 2018 was suspended
in a move approved by then u.s defense
secretary jim mattis and his opposite
number jiong kayong do of south korea. This was the sixth allied exercise to be
canned since the june summit meeting in
singapore between u.s president Donald Trump and north korean leader Kim Jong-Un in which washington had aimed to
put a stop to Pyongyang's nuclear and
missile programmes in return for the u.s
easing sanctions.
North Korea has long seen these kinds of
joint military maneuvers as provocative
and has described them as pretexts for
attacks to be launched against it even
calling for their cancellation as a
condition to continued negotiations. The pentagon hoped that the cancellation
of vigilant ace in 2018 would give the
diplomatic process every opportunity to
continue. According to a statement ahead
of a second meeting between trump and Kim Jong-Un, that summit was eventually held in hanoi
in february 2019 but collapsed
acrimoniously.
Since then relations between north and
south korea have worsened with both
engaged in the rapid development of new
missile technologies focused on adding
to their strategic capabilities. Although vigilant ace seems to have been
officially omitted from the exercise
calendar since 2018, these kinds of
collaborations between the two air arms
have continued, on a smaller scale and
with different labels.
In april 2019 the large scale max
thunder exercise involving south korea, the united states and australia was
replaced with a scaled-down exercise
described as a combined flying training
event and the same nomenclature was used
later the same year for another training
event that replaced vigilant ace. In december twenty twenty there was
another vigilante style exercise but
involving a somewhat reduced
participation list with around 150
aircraft of which some 90 were provided
by the rockoff.
Again, the maneuvers were not disclosed
to the public and the smaller size was
attributed to the effects of the 19
pandemic. In august this year another round of
exercises between south korea and the
united states saw Pyongyang refusing to
answer routine calls on its hotline with
seoul and Kim Jong-Un's sister Kim Yo-Jong accused the south of perfidious
behavior.
For its part the u.s state department
said that the exercise was purely
defensive in nature and washington
harbors no hostile intent towards north
korea. Clearly, while the united states is
continuing to conduct military drills
with south korea these are being run in
a much more low-key manner presumably
amid hopes in the biden administration
that talks with the north can be
restarted.
In october the u.s envoy for north korea
condemned recent ballistic missile tests, but said the united states was committed
to exploring sustain and substantive
diplomacy with north korea. So far, however Pyongyang has not been
receptive and has continued to complain
vociferously about military exercises in
the south no matter what size they are
and their public profile. Currently it seems the pyongyang is
unwilling to engage with the united
states and drop its ongoing missile
development programs which have only
accelerated in recent months setting a
potentially dangerous precedent and
bringing new variables to the standoff
on the peninsula.
These have included at last count a new
submarine-launched ballistic missile, a
hypersonic boost glide vehicle missile
system, a railcar based missile launcher
and a ground-launched cruise missile. At
the same time as long as south korea
continues its own missile efforts then
the north will likely still point to
what it sees as double standards. for south korea moreover there has also
been an increasing focus on military
independence and self-sufficiency
including a renewed push to break south
korea fully away from the united states
in terms of control of the military
during the tenure of president Moon Jae-In which will end next year.
Traditionally, an agreement with the
united states means that the south
korean military would operate entirely
under u.s military control during an
actual conflict on the peninsula. It is questionable whether running
exercises under what's essentially a
media blackout will be an effective way
of allaying the north skepticism over
its adversary's intentions. On the other hand it's clear that after
several years of tone down drills, the
u.s and republic of korea air forces are
once again staging drills involving
hundreds of planes.
