According to reports, another F-16 fighter plane crashed in the US military stationed in South Korea recently, and the fighter plane crashed near Gunsanji Island in the western waters of South Korea. The pilot ejected and escaped before the crash, and was successfully rescued by US and South Korean search and rescue personnel about 50 minutes later. This is the third F-16 crash of the 8th Wing of the US military in South Korea in nine months. The U.S. 8th Fighter Wing, one of the main air forces defending Seoul, is based at the Gunsan base.
However, three crashes in a row have raised concerns about the level of pilot training at the base. Although the Pentagon has boasted that the Gunsan base is guaranteed to operate 24 hours a day, reports indicate that most of the base's pilots are novices and have only been stationed in South Korea for a year. Since the US military stationed in South Korea even the heavy brigade was withdrawn, the commander of the Gunsan base with the pilots"Contact time"Only 9 months at most.
The report also mentions that the US military is currently deployed in South Korea for 280,000 people, including 190,000 Army soldiers, 7,800 pilots, and more than 300 Navy and Marines. This figure is considered to be the lowest level of the US military presence in South Korea, compared to the US military stationed in Japan (5.).60,000 people). Despite the intent to strengthen the deterrence posture on the Korean Peninsula, this has raised concerns about the strength and training level of the US military stationed in South Korea.
The significance of the US military stationed in South Korea is mainly to warn and run away. At present, the deployment of the US military in the Asia-Pacific region has shown a clear trend of retreat, and the last heavy brigade of the US military in South Korea was transferred to Europe after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and in order to support Ukraine, the United States has transferred a large amount of equipment from the US military in South Korea. At present, the only thing that the US military stationed in South Korea can use is air power, but the existence of more than 70 F-16 fighter jets is of little significance to the surrounding powers.
The F-16 has been around for nearly half a century, and the level of training and duration of the U.S. pilots stationed in South Korea have raised some questions.