The US air component, like the US ground and naval forces defending South Korea, will be a supporting element to the South Korean supreme combatant commander when operational control on the Korean peninsula shifts from the US to the South Korean military on April 17, 2012, Army Gen. Walter Sharp, the top US commander in Korea, told reporters Tuesday in Washington, D.C. However, 7th Air Force will continue to lead a combined headquarters with the South Korean air force even after the changeover, said Sharp. He explained that the combined air headquarters would support the top South Korean military commander, but “we just felt that with the airpower that the United States brings … to be able to have the maximum effect from airpower, the best way to do it was to continue with the US being the lead” in the air headquarters. Continue
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.