Deputy Commander, US Forces Korea, “In the middle of deploying and operating space forces on the Korean Peninsula…Introducing a new strike system” | Voice of America

The USFK’s deputy commander-in-chief said that space forces, a new US military force, are deployed and operating on the Korean Peninsula. It also said that it has recently introduced an offensive system capable of hitting targets in real time, while enhancing interoperability with the ROK military. Reporter Kim Dong-hyun covered it.

Scott Flairs, deputy commander of the USFK and 7th Air Force Commander, who was in office last year, emphasized the fact that the US Army created the first space force in the world on the 3rd, saying, “A soldier wearing space uniforms on the Korean Peninsula The Korean Air Force is also paying great attention.”

[녹취: 플레어스 부사령관] “The United States was the first country to stand up its own space force and everybody is watching. Now that we have our guardians with their US space force uniforms on sitting now in the AOC and actually doing the kind of job that they were asked to do, our ROKAF folks are watching that. They are really thirsty to try and find out how exactly we are doing it, what they are going to do, how they can get involved because they understand the meaning of what space and the space domain brings to us”

607 Deployed to Aerospace Center… “Emphasis on improving hitting accuracy”

Deputy Commander Flairs, along with Chief Executive Officer Philip Hudson of the 7th Air Force, attended a video conference hosted by the US Air Force Association at Osan Air Force Base, revealing that eight US space forces are in service on the Korean Peninsula.

At the same time, he said that the ROK military also understands the meaning of the space battlefield environment well, so he hopes to participate together.

US Space Commander “Look closely at the possibility of linking with North Korean space capabilities and ballistic missile technology”

The US space commander said the US is closely watching the impact of missile defense on North Korea’s evolving space capabilities. In a written response to the Senate Military Committee’s approval hearing on the 19th, Defense Minister Lloyd Austin said, “Although not at the same level as China and Russia, Iran and North Korea are also evolving in their capabilities to interfere with satellite communications.” I have pointed out the possibility of linking with technology.

The space force was founded in 2019 in accordance with the judgment that the US’s existing 5th Army system, which consisted of the Army, Sea, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, requires an army that specializes in the space battlefield environment, and the official name of the member of the soldier is’Guardians. ‘is.

The space force is mainly recruiting troops from the air force, and in fact, on the 1st, the Gunsan Air Force Base unveiled the first space force exclusive event of a self-contained air force member through video.

▶Go to the press release for the first space force exclusive event at Gunsan Air Force Base

Currently, space military personnel deployed on the Korean Peninsula are working at the 607th Air Operations Center in Osan Air Force Base, which oversees aviation, space, and cyber operations.

Deputy Commander Flairs said the 607 Aviation Operations Center is going through the day under the tone of “fighting tonight,” and that the US Air Force, space forces, and South Korean soldiers are in a position to fight North Korea 24 hours a day.

In particular, he said that the use of space battlefields on the Korean Peninsula is focused on’Timing’, which improves the accuracy of strikes and maximizes the effect.

“In-house developed attack system ATACS is in operation… Real-time response improvement”

In this regard, Deputy Commander Flairs cited the Automated Tactical Targeting & Counter-Fire Kill Chain System (ATACS), which was recently developed in-house on the Korean Peninsula, as a representative example.

[녹취: 플레어스 부사령관] “One of the examples that we’ve got is a system called an ATACS. It’s the Automated tactical Targeting & Counter-fire kill chain System. It’s a homegrown kind of effort that was built up by our folks here on the peninsula and what it does is, it allows us to put almost instantaneous targeting data into the cockpit of our jets using our legacy Link 16 systems and data and data exchange systems … machine learning kind of a capability that gets targets right into the cockpit. Not five or 10 minutes of people talking or doing chat back and forth with each other. It’s instantaneous from the shooter right into the cockpit right there. And so we’ve got eyes on targets, we have capabilities taking down targets as fast as possible”

This system is characterized by using the US Air Force’s own tactical control network, Link 16, to enable real-time target information reception from the cockpit of a fighter jet.

Deputy Commander Flairs said that the time spent in the process of sending/receiving between existing humans was designed to be able to react in real time through machine learning, so that it can be perceived immediately.

He added that this capability is one of the weapons systems that the USFK is seeking to solve the problems posed by the North Korean threat.

Chief Executive Officer Hudson “Enhanced integration and interoperability with the Korean military”

7th Air Force chief executive Philip Hudson said the current focus is on integration with space operations within the air operations center, and that there is considerable cooperation with the South Korean side.

[녹취: 허드슨 주임원사] “They sit on our AOC floor but they also work a lot with our Korean partners, so much so that you know the Chief of Space Operations has signed some agreements with the ROKAF and its space capabilities. Actually one of the very first nations to actually have a memorandum of understanding between our US space force… so it’s very impressive what they’re doing as far as integrating… ”

Heading up a memorandum of understanding recently signed by Space Force Chief of Staff John Raymond with South Korea, Chief Executive Hudson said that the ROK military is one of the first targets for which the U.S. Space Force promised cooperation, and that it is impressive that it is striving for integration.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commander Flairs said many people are asking how the 7th Air Force is applying the doctrine of “Agile Combat Evolution”. He said the battlefield doctrine on the Korean Peninsula is different from other US Air Forces in the Pacific.

Agile Combat Employment (ACE) refers to the doctrine of agile distribution of power to target bulbs at various air bases.

Deputy Commander Flairs “Gunsan Air Base, Multi-domain Operation Concept Introduction”

Deputy Commander Flairs said that the 7th Air Force is based on deployment at air bases on the Korean Peninsula, but that it introduces a concept similar to this doctrine.

This doctrine, referred to as the’weapon system Gunsan’, is designed so that the forces of the US 8th Fighter Wing in Gunsan, the ROK Air Force, and the Army can fight together.

Deputy Commander Flairs said the doctrine seamlessly integrates forces of different natures, providing a function closer to the joint full-field command and control (JADC2) currently defined by the US Department of Defense.

[녹취: 플레어스 부사령관] “However, we also take advantage of ACE (Agile Combat Employment)-like capability. The 8th Fighter Wing has done a great job of basically what they’re calling a’Weapon system Kun San’. And what they’ve done there is, they kind of integrated the ROKAF under there, the army that’s there. the corps of engineers that are there, the contracting unit that’s there and obviously the Wolfpack itself. And they fight the base all together… And they’ve really done a good job of integrating those, all those disparate capabilities providing them together and that I mean, almost that is a definition of JADC2 (Joint All Domain Command & Control).”

Future Commander of the US Army “Applying multi-domain operations to the US Army in Korea…Integrating long-range strike capabilities, etc.”

It is also revealed that the USFK, which has the largest number of armies in the region, who is responsible for designing the future capabilities of the US Army, is also subject to the concept of multi-domain operations. He said he plans to incorporate the doctrine of multi-domain operations into unmanned systems and long-range strike capabilities in the future.

“Japan is also fighting tonight… Korea-Japan mutual cooperation possible”

Former U.S. Forces Commander in Japan and the 5th Air Force Commander, Bruce Wright, who held the talks on this day, said there was a perception that cooperation between Korea and Japan was not working well, and asked for an evaluation of the posture of cooperation in preparation for emergencies.

In response, Deputy Commander Flairs said that North Korea’s missiles have a range that extends to Japan. In the event of an emergency on the Korean peninsula, Japan is of course included in the battle tonight, and is working very closely with the 5th Air Force deployed in Japan.

[녹취: 플레어스 부사령관] “Obviously, we’re here tonight, Japan is here tonight. Those are my’Fight Tonight’ forces… And I can also tell you from a from a military standpoint, the relationship that I have with my ROKAF counterparts, the relationship that we have with the JASDF, the Koku Jiei Tai those folks, that is a tight relationship. Right from military standpoint, we’re all military folks and we know how to get along.”

Deputy Commander Flairs said he knows that North Korea’s recent analysis is a new threat to the weapons it has shown in the row. He stressed that the United States is fully prepared to defend South Korea and its allies.

This is VOA News, Donghyun Kim.