F-16s from the 36th Fighter Squadron Osan AB, Korea, will launch this year’s first cooperative training exercise with the Republic of Korea Air Force on Tuesday, officials announced. Osan pilots and maintainers relocated to nearby Seosan Air Base for a week of bilateral interoperability training with KF-16s from the ROKAF’s 20th Wing. Buddy Wing 16-1 will include integrated combat scenarios, bilateral tactics, planning, and critique. Pacific Air Forces fighter units at Osan and Kunsan AB, South Korea, routinely conduct bilateral deployments to hone their ability to jointly defend the Peninsula in the event of North Korean aggression. Both bases hosted and participated in several events with ROKAF fighter units last year. Buddy Wing 16-1 runs Jan. 26-29.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…