Learning from our ROKAF counterparts

(Capt. John 'Atari' Harris is a pilot assigned to Kunsan's 80th Fighter Squadron and project officer for 7AF's Buddy Wing Exchange Program held at Kunsan)

Buddy Wing is a quarterly exercise between the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) and United States Air Force (USAF) to foster an exchange of ideas and increase interoperability. Buddy Wing involves either a ROKAF squadron deploying to a USAF base, or vice versa. This exercise included the 122nd Fighter Squadron Jaguars in the 11th Tactical Fighter Wing deploying 4 Slam Eagles (ROKAF F-15Ks) with 4 Pilots and 4 Weapons System Officers (WSOs) to fly with the 80th Fighter Squadron Headhunters (USAF F-16s) in the 8th Fighter Wing. The F-15K Slam Eagle is the ROKAF’s premier fighter jet, bringing more capabilities, missiles, and bombs to the ROK than previous fighter jets...

As the Point of Contact (POC) for the Buddy Wing, I coordinated with Major Dong Won “Mickey” Lee from Daegu about all aspects of getting their jets to Kunsan, about what types of missions we would fly, lodging, food, transportation, Entry Authorization Lists (EALs), etc. I worked with the maintenance (MX) POC, 1Lt Christine “C-Wire” Knieff, on aircraft bed down, parking, and MX bed down. She worked with MX personnel in the 8th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (AMXS), along with the ROKAF MX POC Major Young Kyun Kwon, for all the MX related issues and equipment needed. The ROKAF MX brought 24 personnel to Kunsan to work on the F-15Ks while they were here.

The plan was to have the Slam Eagles meet us in the airspace on Monday for a 4v4 Defensive Counter Air (DCA) mission. 1Lt Matt “Chaff” Crabb was the flight lead on a Flight Lead Upgrade (FLUG) mission, and handled the coordination related to the flight. The mission went well…zero blue air losses and the target was not bombed. The 80th Headhunters (also known as the Juvats) were hot pitting during the week, so after we landed from the DCA mission, we gassed up and took back off for a 2v2 Tactical Intercept (TI) mission between our 4 F-16CM Vipers. The Slam Eagles brought their own debrief equipment, and were able to do setup and tape review in the Juvat Ops building while we were still airborne. After we landed and reviewed our tapes, we were able to have a full up Air to Air debriefing with the Jaguars. They were very professional and already knowledgeable on how to debrief well.

The next day, we briefed up missions for combined operations. The plan was for 2 Slam Eagles and 2 Vipers to go out to the Military Operating Airspace (MOA) and do Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM) while the other 2 Eagles and Vipers would do the same in another part of the MOA. Each 2 ship would split the gas between blue air (the good guys) and red air (the bad guys)…everyone was able to get equal training. We did a defensive perch setup, where the red air starts behind you, and you maneuver to kill while staying alive. We also did Tap- the-Cap, where the red air tries to sneak up on you while you are flying. You have to look outside, find the red air, and then maneuver to kill while staying alive.

This was, by far, one of the most fun sorties I’ve ever had. It’s not very often in a fighter pilot’s career that he gets to go and do full up unlimited maneuvering against a dissimilar jet. Getting to see an aircraft in the air other than the normal F-16 we see on a day to day basis was great training, and at the same time a lot of fun! The debrief consisted of drawing lines on the board for fight reconstruction and lessons learned. That night, the Juvats went out to dinner with the Jaguars. It was an entertaining social event…stories were told, we all had good laughs together, and we built a strong bond with their pilots.


On Wednesday, we had our last flight together for the Buddy Wing. It was another Air to Air mission, where we had 4 F-16s led by Lt Col Jay “Planet” Boyd flying with 4 F-15Ks led by Majors Joon Ho “Bison” Son and “Mickey” Lee versus red air. It was the first time the Juvats were able to fly as an 8 ship with 4 ROKAF jets, and then hold a debriefing afterwards to talk about lessons learned and fixes for next time. The Slam Eagles left Kunsan on Thursday morning, to fly a 2v2 TI mission before landing at Deagu.


While we get to fly with ROKAF squadrons on a monthly basis, being able to brief, fly, and debrief with the ROKAF pilots/WSOs is the reason we need Buddy Wing exercises to continue. In the USAF, we say the real learning in a flight happens in the debrief, and not in the air. By being able to fly and debrief with the ROKAF, we all learn how to be better pilots. By learning how to operate together, we all increase our tactical abilities. Those abilities translate directly to lives being saved in case the ROKAF and USAF are called upon to defend the Republic of Korea. I had a great experience flying with the 122nd FS, and look forward to being able to fly with them again.

Posted in: Fighter jet