3 F-16 Crashes in 9 Months in Korea, But USAF Says Mishaps Are Unrelated

Feb. 1, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Following the third crash of a U.S. Air Force F-16 in South Korea in nine months on Jan. 31, the head of the 7th Air Force released a statement saying the incidents do not appear to be related.

Some USAF flight operations have resumed on the Korean Peninsula after a brief pause, Maj. Gen. David Iverson added.

The latest crash occurred after the F-16 suffered an in-flight emergency over South Korea’s southwestern coast. The pilot ejected and was recovered safely within an hour of the crash and transported to a local medical facility for an assessment. The jet went down in the ocean.

The two previous incidents occurred May 6 and Dec. 11 last year. No personnel have been injured in any of the crashes.

In December, an F-16 from Kunsan Air Base was flying over the Yellow Sea, which borders the west side of the Korean Peninsula, when it suffered an in-flight emergency. The pilot ejected safely. The investigation of that incident is in its “final stages,” Iverson said in his statement.

Last May, a routine daytime training sortie went sour when something went wrong and the pilot ejected near Osan Air Base, about 80 miles north of Kunsan. The fighter made a fiery impact in a local field, which was captured by local cameras. Iverson said the incident has been investigated, but results have not been released. Air Force Accident Investigation Board reports are typically published.

F-16 crash south korea video — South Korean broadcaster SBS News obtained footage purportedly showing the moment a U.S. Air Force F-16 crashed near Osan Air Base. Screenshot

After the latest incident, the 7th Air Force paused flying operations to focus on search and recovery operations. Iverson said “some” flying ops began again Feb. 1, though he did not specify which.

“I also want to acknowledge that this is the third F-16 crash on the peninsula in the last nine months. Thus far, including the preliminary findings from yesterday’s mishap, there are no indications these incidents are related,” he said.

From 2010 to 2021—the latest year for which the Air Force Safety Center has published statistics—33 F-16s have been destroyed in mishaps, or 2.75 per year. Six fighters each were destroyed in 2013 and 2015.

Austin Suggests Retaliation Against Iran for Deadly Strike Could Be a Campaign

Feb. 1, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The Pentagon‘s retaliation for the killing of three U.S. troops in Jordan by Iranian-backed militants may take the form of a campaign that will directly target Iranian capabilities and interests, rather than a one-off raid the likes of which have not deterred Iran and its proxies in recent months, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III told reporters Feb. 1.

Austin, making his first appearance at the Pentagon podium since entering the hospital in December to treat prostate cancer, said the militants that have struck at, injured, or killed U.S. troops in the Middle East in recent months could not have done so without Iran’s help, and a mere tit-for-tat attack on its capabilities isn’t sufficient.

“At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability” from Iran and its proxies “than we’ve taken in the past,” Austin said.

“I don’t think the adversaries are of a ‘one and done’ mindset,” he added. “They have a lot of capability. I have a lot more. So we’re going to do what’s necessary to protect our troops and our interests.”

While Iran has said that it provided weapons to Islamist groups in the region, it denies having urged or directed any attacks against U.S. forces. But Austin said, “how much Iran knew or didn’t know really doesn’t matter because Iran sponsors these groups.” Without Iran’s aid, “these kinds of things don’t happen,” he said.

President Joe Biden has said that he has decided how to respond to this latest strike in Jordan but has offered no more details. Austin declined to elaborate.

U.S. forces have been attacked in the Middle East more than 160 times since the latest Israel-Hamas conflict began. Iran-aligned groups have launched airstrikes in Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon, and Iran continues to supply its proxies with weapons such as drones and missiles capable of carrying out these assaults.

While some Iran-backed militants have halted their attacks on U.S. forces in the region since the deadly attack on Tower 22 in Jordan, the Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to attack commercial shipping in the Red Sea region.

Asked whether the U.S. will “escalate” military action in retaliation for the killings, Austin said the U.S. has so far done a good job at the opposite, preventing the Gaza crisis from becoming a regional war.

The U.S.’s goal since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel “was to make sure that we contain this crisis in Gaza and that we prevented things from spreading to a wider conflict,” he said.

The fact that there is not “an all-out conflict between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah” means the crisis has been managed, he argued. The U.S. is in tight contact with the Israeli military to “make sure that that doesn’t blossom into … a war on another front. We don’t see Israel engaged in a conflict with other countries in the region.”

Austin acknowledged that “there’s been a lot of activity in the region,” but argued that “Iranian proxy groups have been attacking our troops even well before Oct. 7.”

“We’re not at war with Iran,” Austin said. “And, yeah, the Houthis continue to do things that are very irresponsible and illegal. So our goal is to make sure that we … continue to take away capability from the Houthis to do what they’ve been doing.”

The U.S. has struck Houthi missile and sensor sites in collaboration with British forces in recent days.

“We’re going to either be serious about freedom of navigation … or we’re not,” Austin said. The world is watching to see “how serious we are about this, and we are serious. And again, our partners and allies are serious about it, as well.”

Austin also called on Iran to stop providing the Houthis with “advanced conventional weapons.”

U.S. officials have said they believe another Iranian-backed group, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, is responsible for the attack on Tower 22, a U.S. drone base in Jordan, where the three Army troops were killed.

Also during his briefing, Austin apologized for attempting to keep his recent medical treatment for cancer secret, saying that he had wanted to keep his diagnosis “private.” He acknowledged that President Biden was not informed of Austin’s incapacitation in a timely or appropriate manner.

“We did not handle this right, and I did not handle this right,” Austin admitted. “I should have told the President about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public. And I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and to the American people.”

Austin said flatly he does not plan to resign as a consequence of the incident, but an internal review is underway in the Pentagon which will fully explore what happened, what should have happened, and whether any punishment is warranted.

Garrant Takes Command of SSC, Pledging to Focus on ‘Culture, Speed’

Feb. 1, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Lt. Gen. Philip A. Garrant became the second ever leader of Space Systems Command on Feb. 1, pledging to align the Space Force’s main acquisition arm with the visions of Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.

“As a command, we will be focused on Gen. Saltzman’s theory of success, Secretary Kendall’s call to reoptimize for great power competition, and continuing the organizational design our leadership envisions,” Garrant said during a ceremony at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.

In particular, Garrant, who previously served as Deputy Chief of Space Operations for strategy, plans, programs, and requirements, hinted that SSC may expand its “Integrated Mission Delta” and “System Deltas” prototypes. Two each stood up in the fall of 2023, as part of a push by Saltzman to align the Space Force around missions rather than functions by putting operations and sustainment under one roof and tying them closely together with acquisition officials.

“We’ll continue shaping what SSC is intended to become, with mission capability-focused IMDs and SYDs while continuing our focus on culture, speed, and growing our most important resource—you,” said Garrant.

Garrant also said that as SSC commander, he will work to connect with Guardians across the country and the globe.

“I plan to meet as many of you as I can, traveling to SSC units that are not here in Los Angeles. I want to hear your ideas and share my vision for the command as we move forward,” Garrant said. “My promise is to lead and communicate with you.”

Garrant is succeeding from Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, who has moved up to become Vice Chief of Space Operations.

Reflecting on his two years at SSC, Guetlein stressed the pressing need to address evolving threats posed by China in space, while praising Garrant as an “incredibly strong, battle-tested leader.”

“Over the past year, we observed record setting Chinese military exercises around Taiwan that are not only unprofessional, but increasingly unsafe,” Guetlein said. “It is only a matter of time until they until they see the opportunity to break from international norms and threaten another nation sovereign.”

Guetlein also highlighted Garrant’s diverse experience leading him to his new job—prior to his time on the Space Staff, Garrant was a program executive officer in the Missile Defense Agency and spent time at the Air Armament Center. He also had several stints at SSC’s predecessor organization, the Space and Missile Systems Center.

Saltzman, who officiated the change of command ceremony, praised SSC’s achievements under Glutelin’s leadership, pointing to the Victus Nox mission in September that set a record by launching a satellite into orbit just 27 hours after receiving orders. Calling it an “unprecedented accomplishment,” Saltzman stressed the significance of such missions adapting to the era of great power competition.

“Space dominance starts with space awareness,” Saltzman said. “And that’s why your recent successes with the surveillance, reconnaissance, and tracking program have been so important.”

Moving forward, Garrant pledged, “we have a lot to do, so, get ready.”

INDOPACOM Nominee Says Aerial Refueling and Logistics Need Attention

Feb. 1, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Navy Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr., nominated to lead U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said logistics—including its aerial refueling—will be top priorities for him if he is confirmed.

Currently commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Paparo testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 1. He is in line to succeed Adm. John C. Aquilino, and once confirmed, would preside over the vast territory through the mid-2020s.

Lawmakers pressed Paparo for his views on China’s aggressive actions in the region and the potential that Chinese leader Xi Jinping could decide to invade the island of Taiwan in the coming years.

“I can’t directly express Xi Jinping’s attitude, but do see the actions of the People’s Liberation Army,” Paparo said. “I see an undaunted effort to extend its aggression as a revanchist, revisionist, and expansionist state, to reset the borders based on the logic of their military power. And I think we are in a global environment that is increasingly disordered, increasingly chaotic.”

That suggests the U.S. must shift to a “more forward, more distributed posture” in the region, Paparo said, and INDOPACOM must rethink how it supports that posture.

“Our logistics enterprise is built on the principles of efficiency over a time when we were focused on regional conflicts,” Paparo said. “Now under the contestation that we see from actors, we’ve got to build a logistics enterprise that’s based on the principles of effectiveness under fire.”

A naval aviator who spent time flying the F-15C with the Air Force on exchange duty, Paparo was asked specifically about aerial refueling and whether he had confidence in the KC-46 Pegasus tanker, which has been troubled by issues with its Remote Vision System and boom.

“I am concerned about the joint force’s ability to refuel a dynamic force operating in the air,” Paparo said. In separate written testimony, Paparo said fuel storage should be emphasized at different locations throughout the theater, and the joint force should experiment with “long-range, uncrewed, multi-domain platforms, both for operational missions and logistics transportation.”

Paparo continued to hammer home his emphasis on logistics later in the hearing when he said of U.S. Transportation Command that, “In deterrence, in competition, in crisis and conflict, it is very likely the most important COCOM-to-COCOM relationship we have.” The two are engaged in “habitual” planning to prepare for possible contingencies, he added.

Air Mobility Command and U.S. Transportation Command have been ramping up their efforts in the Indo-Pacific as of late, highlighted by AMC shifting its premier exercise, Mobility Guardian, to focus specifically on the Pacific in the summer of 2023.

A U.S. C-17 Globemaster approaches the boom of a 168th Wing KC-135 Stratotanker during a Mobility Guardian exercise July 16, 2023. Courtesy photo

All told, 70 aircraft and 3,000 personnel participated in operations in Hawaii, Guam, Australia, and Japan. Coming out of that exercise, AMC boss Gen. Mike Minihan said his main takeaways were the need to improve command relationships to prevent wasteful efforts, invest in beyond-line-of-sight communications, and work on ‘exploding into theater,’ defined by how quickly mobility Airmen can serve the joint force in an unfamiliar environment.

TRANSCOM commander Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost told reporters in December that the exercise also highlighted “the importance of fuel throughout the theater and how do we support distributed operations around the globe; and the concepts of maneuver for our services … this ability to be able to disperse and then collect up again, so disaggregate to survive, aggregate to create an effect, and how we could do that more effectively across the vast region of the Indo-Pacific.”

Paparo appears to be on a glide path to confirmation to lead INDOPACOM. No lawmakers expressed opposition to his pick, and the backlog of general and flag officer nominees that piled up throughout 2023 has been mostly cleared. Dating back to its founding in 1947, every commander of INDOPACOM and its predecessor, U.S. Pacific Command, has been a Navy officer. No Air Force, Army, or Marine Corps officer has ever headed the command.

‘Character Above All’: Top-Performing Space Force MTI Wins Polaris Award

Feb. 1, 2024 | By Patrick Reardon

The Space Force’s Polaris Awards annually recognize Guardians who best represent the Guardian Spirit. There are four individual award categories based on each of the core Guardian values—Character, Connection, Commitment and Courage—and a Team Excellence category that combines all four values. Air & Space Forces Magazine is highlighting each of this year’s winners before they receive their awards on stage at the 2024 AFA Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colo.

The U.S. Space Force selected Tech. Sgt. Isabel F. Childress of the 1st Delta Operations Squadron, Detachment 1, at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, as the winner of the Polaris Award for Character for “personifying integrity, honesty, candor, fairness, accountability, and transparency” in 2023.

Childress graduated from Military Training Instructor School at the top of her class in 2023, becoming the first-ever Guardian to win all three MTIS awards: Excellence in Instruction, the Commandant’s Award, and the Distinguished Graduate Award.

“[Becoming an MTI] is something I’ve been itching at my whole career to do,” Childress said. “I wanted to help change the lives of people who are willing to raise their right hand and join our force.”

“The training was definitely rigorous,” she added. “I actually PCS’ed with a three-month-old and so, as a brand-new mom … I would go to school, come home, spend some time with my husband and daughter, and stay up till almost midnight practicing the lessons that I would be teaching, [and] studying with my classmates in order for us all get to the finish line.”

During her MTI training, Childress was told MTIs needed to cross-reference 15 separate lesson plans during PT evaluations in Basic Military Training. She said her first reaction to this was, “Why can’t it all just be one document?”

In a single weekend, Childress consolidated all 15 lesson plans into a single, simplified fitness guide. She also designed a brand-new website for the schoolhouse that now houses all the information for MTIs to easily access and reference.

“Initially, I just made the document to help us with PT [evaluations], and my classmates were like, ‘Absolutely, let’s use this,’” she said. “And then I started adding more to it based on things I could consolidate, and based on some things that my classmates were starting to develop. And that’s something we just gave back to the MTI schoolhouse.”

Childress’ website is now being used across the entire instructor corps. Her initiative led to fewer fitness failures across all of basic training, saving the Department of the Air Force more than $46 million in retraining costs.

Taking the initiative to identify problems and then solve them is a quality that Childress tries to instill in her Guardians every day in training: “Be the change that we need to see. And if something isn’t working, then fix it,” she said.

Her words echo the Space Force handbook’s entry on character, the Guardian value she’s being decorated for: “We must put into context what matters today, what matters in the future, what matters for the mission, the team, and each of us individually,” the handbook says. “Character allows us to navigate these dilemmas in real time and character demands consistently reevaluating them as the environment changes.”

Childress said her character was directly shaped by her parents’ examples.

“When I think of character, I think of my parents,” she said. “Their hard work truly [inspired] the hard work that hopefully I’m giving back to the service and to my family. … The day I left for BMT, my dad told me not to be strong, but to be resilient. Because every day is going to be hard and every day is going to be a different challenge. But, if I’m able to come back from that, then he knows I’m gonna be able to make him proud, because he raised a good and resilient person.”

Meet the other 2023 Polaris Award winners below:

Polaris Award for Character: Maj. Jessica M. Pratt

Airmen Were Among the Injured in Jordan Attack

Jan. 31, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

A “small number” of Airmen were injured in the Jan. 28 drone attack on the military’s remote Tower II base in Jordan, among them at least one Air National Guardsman, Air Force and National Guard officials confirmed to Air & Space Forces Magazine on Jan. 31.

National Security Council spokesperson John F. Kirby said the U.S. attributes the attack to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of organizations backed by Iran.

The attack killed three Soldiers and wounded more than 40 service members at the small outpost in northeastern Jordan, close to the border with Syria. Both Air Force and Army personnel are based there.

The National Guard announced it had confirmed at least 41 Guardsmen, mostly Soldiers, were injured in the attack. A spokesperson said that total includes one Airman, who is “in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries.”

An Air Force spokesperson confirmed that several Airmen were injured but did not immediately clarify how many Airmen were hurt or their current condition.

Tower 22 is located near Al Tanf Garrison in southeastern Syria, where the U.S. works with local partners to combat the Islamic State group. Al Tanf has drawn frequent attacks in recent months, but the Jan. 28 attack on Tower 22 was the first known attack on U.S. forces in Jordan. Tower 22 provides logistics and support for Al Tanf.

“There are approximately 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel deployed to the base, conducting a number of key support functions, including support to the coalition for the lasting defeat of ISIS,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters Jan. 29 that the attack drone struck living quarters on the base early in the morning, “so people were actually in their beds when the drone impacted.”

The number of wounded from the attack was first reported as 25, but has since grown to more than 40. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said Jan. 30 that eight troops were transported out of Jordan for higher level medical attention.

President Joe Biden has pledged to respond to the attack.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Enlisted Chiefs Want BAH to Cover 100% of Housing Costs

Jan. 31, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The senior enlisted leaders of the Air Force and Space Force urged lawmakers to revamp the Basic Allowance for Housing, starting with paying the full cost of Airmen’s and Guardians’ homes.

BAH is designed to cover 95 percent of the national average BAH rate, adjusted for paygrade and family status. Congress authorized the formula in 2015, and it was gradually implemented over time.

That 5 percent cut cost service members between $816 and $1,776 per year in 2020, according the Government Accountability Office. That has only grown since, to $879-$1,859, according to an Air & Space Forces Magazine analysis using 2024 BAH rates.

“That’s a huge impact,” Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass told members of the House Armed Services quality of life panel. Eliminating that proviso would put that 5 percent “that goes “back in the pockets of our service members,” she said. “We’ve got to get there. That’s, to me, a no brainer.”

The panel chair, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a retired Air Force brigadier general, promised to work on the issue, but cautioned doing so would take time.

“We may not be able to do it in one fell swoop, but we’re going to try to chip away at this and get it done,” said Bacon. “Because I think it’s just a terrible mistake.”

As housing costs surged in recent years, annual BAH increases have struggled to keep up, with three successive increases of 5 percent or more. The biggest of these was 12.1 percent from 2022 to 2023.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John F. Bentivegna challenged the “anchor points,” or housing standards, used to set BAH for each paygrade. For example, housing for an E-5 with dependents is considered a two-bedroom townhouse. He said that standard falls short of what today’s Guardians and Airmen expect.

“99 percent of enlisted men and women who have families do not [rate] a single-family home,” Bentivegna said. Indeed, he added, “The only [enlisted people] authorized to get reimbursed [enough to afford] a single-family, three-bedroom house are E-9s.”

Such standards affect the “value proposition” the military offers its service members, Bentivegna said. “How do we value the propensity to serve, and the immense talent and responsibility placed among our enlisted corps?”

Bass has called for BAH reforms before. In September 2022 she called for reassessing BAH, the overseas housing allowance, and overseas cost-of-living adjustments. “The days of a survey? No. There are better ways to assess it. And we need to figure out what that modern way is.”

Fixing the Dorms

Single Airmen and Guardians are also in need of better housing solutions, Bass and Bentivegna said. They called for long-term, consistent funding and a dedicated strategy for updating dormitories.

Questioned by Bacon about a September 2023 GAO report that critiqued the Department of the Air Force’s oversight of dormitories, both senior leaders defended their commitment to ensuring satisfactory living conditions as well as the general state of the dorms. But they acknowledged that many facilities are old and in need of investment.

“Most of our infrastructure is like antiques, built in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s,” said Bass. “And so how we ensure that we have a strategy to take care of our infrastructure is important. For the last two decades, I would offer, we’ve underfunded our [Facilities Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization].”

In the next five years, the service plans to invest $1.1 billion on its dorms. On visits to Space Force bases, Bentivegna said, he hears concerns “about the planning out to do that modernization. A stable budget is critically important to plan that out.”

Boeing Claims ‘Momentum’ on KC-46 and T-7 as Defense & Space Unit Losses Slow

Jan. 31, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security division (BDS) recorded its smallest loss of the year in the fourth quarter of 2023, as the aerospace giant works back toward profitability in the 2025-2026 timeframe, Boeing officials said Jan. 31.

BDS lost a net $101 million in the final three months of 2023, driven by losses of $139 million on three fixed-price programs that were not identified. Although this performance was worse than expected, Boeing executive vice president and chief financial officer Brian West said the company aims to get back to “historical” levels of performance in the next two or three years.

The unit has collectively logged billions of dollars in losses on the KC-46 tanker, T-7 trainer, VC-25B Air Force One, and MQ-25 uncrewed tanker programs in the last decade, with nearly $1 billion of that in 2023 alone.

In the latest quarter, though, BDS’ revenue gained nine percent on the strength of the KC-46 Lot 10 award for 15 aircraft. Overall the unit delivered 52 aircraft and two satellites in the last quarter, West noted.

“Our game plan—to get BDS back to high single-digit margins by the ’25-’26 timeframe—remains unchanged,” he said, noting that the unit has a $59 billion backlog.

“Operational performance stabilized as we exited the year,” he said, and he reiterated the company’s pledge to be more disciplined in how it bids for new defense and space work. He suggested the worst effects of fixed-price program losses “are behind us,” but “we still have more work to do.”

Boeing still expects “to return to the strong historical performance levels as we roll in new contracts with tighter underwriting disciplines as we move into the ’25-‘26 timeframe,” West said.

Company president and CEO David Calhoun has previously said that Boeing’s zeal to win defense competitions in the last decade caused it to “accept too much risk” on fixed-price programs, leading to heavy losses amounting to over $7 billion on the KC-46 alone.

The fixed-price programs are “maturing” and represent “less of a drag” on profits, West noted.

“In addition to capturing the tanker award from the U.S. Air Force, the program delivered nine aircraft in the fourth quarter. [We] continue to build positive momentum in spite of the supplier-related disruptions to the factory that we faced earlier last year,” he asserted.

The first T-7 Red Hawk trainer has been delivered to Edwards Air Force Base to begin flight testing, he said, and the increasing deliveries on Boeing programs show they have “momentum,” he added.

The first T-7A Red Hawk, piloted by USAF test pilot Maj. Jonathan “Gremlin” Aronoff and Boeing test pilot Steve “Bull” Schmidt, soars over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Nov. 8. **Bryce Bennett/USAF**

“Overall, the defense portfolio is poised to improve the strong demand across the customer base,” West said. “The products are performing … and we’re confident that our efforts to drive execution and stability will turn this business to performance levels that our investors recognize.”

Apache attack helicopters, missiles, and weapons are all “things that are needed right now in this environment,” West said, leading to strong performance that has offset other losses in the division.

But the fighters and missiles business “has to get better,” West said.

Boeing Global Services saw a 3.5 percent uptick in margins mainly on the strength of contracts to sustain the C-17 airlifter.

Discussion of Boeing’s plans to recover from quality escapes that have grounded many of its 737 MAX airliners for safety concerns monopolized most of the earnings call. President and chief executive officer David Calhoun apologized to Alaska Airlines and all MAX-9 passengers and operators for quality problems that caused a door plug to blow out on a recent flight.

“I do believe the [FAA] investigation will wrap quickly,” Calhoun said, but “we simply must do better.” He insisted that safety is the company’s top priority and that Boeing will do everything it must to reassure its customers and the flying public of the integrity of the fleet.

F-16 Pilot Ejects Before Fighter Crashes off South Korea

Jan. 31, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

A U.S. F-16 pilot safely ejected from the fighter after an in-flight emergency over South Korea’s southwestern coast on Jan. 31. The aircraft then crashed into the West Sea, marking the third USAF F-16 crash in the country within nine months.

The unidentified pilot was recovered safely within an hour of the crash and transported to a local medical facility for an assessment, the 8th Fighter Wing of Kunsan Air Base said a release. The cause of the in-flight emergency is currently unknown.

The pilot was rescued by the Korean Air Force and Coast Guard members, according to South Korea’s Yonhap Agency. Two ROK Air Force Black Hawk (HH-60) helicopters were dispatched immediately following the crash, and the pilot was secured with a rope from the sea before being airlifted with the helicopter.

This latest incident follows on two F-16 crashes in South Korea last year. The first incident occurred on May 6, 2023 when a jet conducting a routine sortie experienced an issue, leading the pilot to eject near Osan Air Base. Then on Dec. 11, another fighter crashed off the coast where the pilot ejected from the aircraft and was reported to be in a stable condition by the 8th FW.

The Air Force has yet to release accident investigation reports into what caused these crashes.

The Jan. 31 crash also comes just a few months after the Nov. 29 CV-22 Osprey crash off the southern Japan coast that resulted in the deaths of eight Airmen. The Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy have collectively suspended operations for the V-22, pending the Air Force’s investigation into the cause of the Osprey crash.

“We are very thankful to the Republic of Korea rescue forces and all our teammates who made the swift recovery of our pilot possible,” Col. Matthew C. Gaetke, 8th FW commander, said in a statement. He added that the wing will now shift its focus to the search and recovery of the aircraft.