The George Washington Carrier Strike Group began its participation in the second iteration of the U.S. – Japan – South Korea trilateral multi-domain exercise Freedom Edge, which began on Wednesday and wraps up on Friday.
The trilateral exercise, agreed to by the three countries during the Camp David summit in August 2023, comes in the wake of North Korea’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch on Oct. 31 and Short Range Ballistic Missile launches on Nov. 5. The U.S. had responded to North Korea’s ICBM launch with a joint air drill on Nov. 3 with Japan and South Korea involving a U.S. Air Force (USAF) B-1 bomber and fighter aircraft from all three countries.
“The three countries strongly condemned North Korea’s provocation, including its ICBM test launch, that undermine peace and stability in the region, including the Korean Peninsula, during recent high-level consultations, and this training reflected their will to deter and respond to such threats,” reads a South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) release on the exercise.
The exercise builds upon the inaugural execution of Freedom Edge, according to releases from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and the Japanese Joint Staff Office. This iteration, taking place in the East China Sea waters south of South Korea’s Jeju Island, will demonstrate the integration of 5th generation fighters into a multi-domain defense infrastructure.
Aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN-73) with embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 will participate with destroyers USS Higgins (DDG-76), USS McCampbell (DDG-85) and USS Dewey (DDG-105). All three destroyers are part of the forward-deployed Commander, Task Force (CTF) 71/Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15 based in Japan.
U.S aircraft in the exercise will include P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA), F-35 Lighting II and F/A-18 Superhornet fighters and KC-135 Stratotanker tanker aircraft.
Japan will deploy Aegis destroyer JS Haguro (DDG-180) along with P-3C Orion MPA, F-15J and F-2 fighters and E-767 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACs) aircraft for the exercise while South Korea will participate with Aegis destroyer ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong (DDG-993), destroyer ROKS Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin (DDH-975), P-3C Orion MPA and F-35 Lightning II and F-15K fighter aircraft
The inaugural Freedom Edge exercise, carried out from June 27 -30, involved the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group.
The U.S. and Japan also planned to conduct a bilateral ordnance exercise to begin on Friday. However, Japan cancelled the exercise following the loss of a Japanese crew member from minesweeper JS Ukushima (MSC-686), which sank following a ship fire. Japan ended its search for the crew member on Tuesday.
Korea Announces UAV Experiment
The Republic of Korea Navy launched an uncrewed aerival vehicle from the flight deck of amphibious assault ship ROKS Dokdo (LPH-6111) in the East Sea (South Korea’s name for the Sea of Japan) Tuesday, the service announced in a Wednesday release.
While the release did not state the name of the UAV, only describing its size and dimension, imagery showed it to be the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) Mojave UAV.
This is the first time a fixed-wing UAV launched from one of the ROKN’s ships.
“This combat experiment was conducted as part of the Navy’s plan to build a maritime manned-unmanned composite combat system for the purpose of ‘constructing an advanced science and technology force centered on AI-based unmanned combat systems’, and to establish a solid military readiness posture in a severe security situation and to seek ways to secure and operate unmanned aerial vehicles early,” reads the release.
After taking off, the UAV performed a mock landing maneuver by passing close to Dokdo, simulating a landing on the ship, according to the release, which added that the UAV maintained communication with Dokdo and the Naval Aviation Command for about an hour and flew over the East Sea. Subsequently, control of the drone was transferred from Dokdo to the Naval Aviation Command, and the drone safely landed on the runway of the Pohang Naval Aviation Command.
Throughout the trial, the UAV was operated by its manufacturer, according to the release.
The ROKN is accelerating the establishment of a maritime manned/unmanned composite combat system in various areas such as sea, underwater and air to establish a military readiness posture in the severe security situation, according to a release. In particular, the ROKN plans to continue developing the concept of operating drones on ships to strengthen maritime operational capabilities.
The ROKN is the second navy to test the Mojave UAV’s capability to operate from the flight deck of a ship, with the Royal Navy’s carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09) previously trialing the UAV off the U.S. East Coast in November last year.
