Buddy Wing brings Kunsan, South Korean airmen closer

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Gustavo Gonzalez
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, South Korea (AFNS) --  United States and South Korean airmen took part in a series of aerial exercises designed to increase understanding and interoperability between the two forces March 9 through 12 here.

The Buddy Wing Exercise and exchange program gave 8th Fighter Wing F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots and South Korean air force's 11 Fighter Wing F-15K Slam Eagle pilots a chance to introduce and review tactics and exchange ideas. 

The quarterly program also offered dissimilar airframe training opportunities.

"The Buddy Wing Program is an opportunity for the U.S. Air Force and the South Korean air force pilots to fly together in a realistic training scenario to give us practice and an opportunity to work with one another, the same way we would if we were in a combat situation," said Lt. Col. Stephen Hickey of the 8th Fighter Wing Safety Office. "They are going to be conducting a realistic training exercise that will give them an opportunity to work together, train together in a way we would eventually want fighting together if we ever needed to."

Twenty-two South Korean air force maintainers and eight pilots came to Kunsan from Daegu, South Korea, to participate in the exercise and work alongside more than 150 Kunsan Air Base maintainers and 25 pilots.

"The F-15K pilots are the premier South Korean air force fighter pilots," said Capt. John Harris of the 80th Fighter Squadron. "They are really, really good." 

Buddy Wing exercises are vital to the readiness of the Air Force and its allies to ensure they are battle-ready and trained for combined-joint operations, said Col. J.D. Harris, the 8th Fighter Wing commander.

"The benefit for the 8th fighter Wing is that we understand a little better how the South Korean air force flies and operates so that we have better interoperability," he said. "We understand how their airplanes function, how those pilots think and how they work so that we can work better together when we are in the sky."

According to Colonel Harris, sharing the base with host nation military member sets the 8th Fighter Wing apart from other installations and offers some unique training opportunities.

"We are special in that here at Kunsan we are the only installation that has both South Korean air force and U.S. Air Force fighters at the same base all the time," he said. "So we have a little bit of extra opportunity to train together and when we go somewhere we take that expertise to them, or when those South Korean air force wings come to us, they bring that to us and we get a little bit better. Our goal is to actually bring our cultures closer together."

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