Air Force Chief Tests F-15K in Skies Over
Dokdo
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kim Sung-il was in the pilot's seat
of one of Koreas new F-15K fighter jets on Monday afternoon in a
symbolic sortie high over Dokdo, the islets in the East Sea that
have come to galvanize patriotic sentiment. Gen. Kim took off from
a base in Daegu, around 4 p.m. with a squad of two F-15Ks and two
KF-16., the first Air Force commander to lead a flight over the
islets. Circling for several minutes, Kim maintained communication
with the Ulleungdo control unit and the Master Control and Report
Center and checked on preparedness.
The F-15Ks, which started arriving in pairs last October, acquitted
themselves well in the operation. In an emergency, the aircraft
with a top speed of Mach 2.5 could reach Dokdo from base in eight
minutes, and while the current core Air Force fighter jet, the
KF-16, would be capable of little more than five minutes of air
battle if it flew from the central region, the F-15K can carry out
fighting operations for up to an hour after taking off from the
Daegu base.
The aim of the exercise was to encourage pilots and mark the New
Year as well as check the F-15K in operation. Air Force officials
said the flight was symbolic of the Air Forces determination to
defend Dokdo. The islets attract an annual trickle of
quasi-official territorial claims from Japan.
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