US, Japan, South Korea Hold Joint Exercise Freedom Edge

The United States, Japan, and South Korea have begun their second joint exercises called Freedom Edge. The start of the exercises, which began on November 13, was announced in a press release by the US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), Voice of America reports.

The Command's statement said that the exercises are aimed at ensuring “peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Korean Peninsula.”

This is already the second Freedom Edge exercise. The previous ones took place in June of the same year, in accordance with the agreements between the three countries adopted at the Camp David summit in 2023.

In July this year, the Defense Ministers of Japan, South Korea, and the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Trilateral Security Cooperation. At the signing, the defense ministers reiterated their continued commitment to strengthening security cooperation to curb escalating nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

The second exercise involves ships and aircraft from the three countries.

• The Pentagon is using the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington, the destroyers Higgins, McCambell and Dewey, as well as F-35 and F-18 fighters, a Boeing P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine patrol aircraft and a Boeing KC-135 tanker transport aircraft in the exercises.
• Tokyo is participating in the exercises with the destroyer Haguro, an Orion P-3 patrol aircraft, F-15 and F-2 fighters, and an E-767 airborne early warning aircraft.
• The South Korean military is also using P-3, F-35 and F-15 aircraft in the exercises, and has also added the destroyers Chungmugon Yi Sunsin and Soeryu Songnyong to the list of Freedom Edge participants.

“These exercises demonstrate the most advanced air defense capabilities with the integration of 5th generation fighters into a complex multi-domain defense infrastructure,” the US military said in a press release.