The Rok Air Force is second to None
The South Korean Air Force staged an "elephant walk" at an air base just south of Seoul on Friday, a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw artillery firing drills involving border units capable of striking Seoul.
The display of airpower by 33 aircraft, including F-35A stealth fighters, KF-16s, F-15Ks and F-4Es, at the air base in Suwon came as South Korea and the United States have been staging the annual Freedom Shield exercise since Monday to strengthen deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
"As the elephant walk training demonstrated today, (we) must become an Air Force that instills trust in the people and fear in the enemy, with capabilities and a posture to overwhelmingly respond to any enemy provocation," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lee Young-su was quoted as saying at the exercise.
During the "Elephant Walk" training, the fully armed jets taxied in formation along an airfield to practice standard pre-takeoff procedures and check their readiness.
On Thursday, Kim called for making preparations for regular combat mobilization to ensure all the artillery sub-units can take the initiative with merciless and rapid strikes at the moment of their entry into an actual war, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea has one of the world's largest artillery forces, many of them positioned within range of the greater Seoul area, home to about half of South Korea's 51 million people.
Pyongyang has long denounced joint South Korea-U.S. drills as rehearsals for an invasion against it, warning the allies earlier this week they would pay a "dear price" over the Freedom Shield exercise set to end next Thursday.
Meanwhile, the warplane formation was headed by eight F-4E Phantoms, which are planned to be retired in June after decades of service.
The Air Force first acquired an earlier version of the Phantom in 1969, which served as its main fighter model until the introduction of the KF-16 in 1994.