In addition to announcing the development of the Naval L-SAM, which is an anti-ballistic missile defense system on warships, South Korea in response to the test launch of North Korea's Hwasong-17 ballistic missile on March 24, apparently also announced a form of combat readiness, where one day after the launch of the Hwasong- 17, Seoul proclaimed that its fleet of F-35A Lightning II stealth fighter jets was fully operational.
Quoted from Janes.com (30/3/2022), the form of combat readiness of the South Korean Air Force's F-35A fleet was shown in the elephant walk. The South Korean Ministry of Defense officially announced the full operation of the F-35A on March 25, 2022.
The South Korean Ministry of Defense said that the elephant walk carried out by the F-35 "followed the induction of the final unit". South Korea itself has ordered 40 F-35As from Lockheed Martin.
Despite mentioning that the F-35A fleet was fully operational, however, the South Korean Ministry of Defense was reluctant to provide details about the 40 F-35A units. Responding to media questions about the induction of fighter jets, a spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of Defense said it could not "confirm (information) about military power and F-35 induction because it is confidential."
Speaking during the elephant walk, South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook said his country would use the F-35A's "invisible force", with its stealth combat capability and precision all-weather strike, as a deterrent force.
Apart from the statement of combat readiness of the South Korean F-35A fleet, in early January 2022, all South Korean F-35A assets were temporarily grounded, namely after the belly landing incident on the F-35A stealth fighter jet belonging to the South Korean Air Force on January 4, 2022. .
At that time, an F-35A was forced to make an emergency landing during an exercise, the cause of which was said to be an issue with the avionics system. In the aftermath of this incident, the F-35A was forced to land without wheels, because the landing gear was said to be unable to be lowered prior to the emergency landing.
As a result, the F-35A landed on the runway at Seosan Air Base (151 kilometers south of Seoul) with a belly landing technique. The incident implies the first reported belly landing since the United States began exporting the F-35A to allied nations.
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