Japan to Refuel S. Korean Air Force Jets at Naha Air Base

Tokyo, Jan. 21 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force said Wednesday that it will provide refueling support to a total of 10 planes of the South Korean Air Force at its Naha Air Base in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa on Jan. 28. It will be the first time for the ASDF to provide refueling support to the South Korean military’s aircraft, according to the ASDF and other sources. Such refueling support was initially planned for November last year, but it was cancelled by Japan, following the revelation that the fighter jets of the South Korean Air Force’s Black Eagles aerobatic team had flown around Takeshima, islets in the Sea of Japan controlled by South Korea and claimed by Japan. The Black Eagles are scheduled to participate in an international defense industry exhibition to be held in Saudi Arabia in early February this year, and South Korea has asked Japan for refueling support due mainly to the flight range of the Black Eagles. Also on Jan. 28, members of the ASDF’s Blue Impulse aerobatic team will take part in an exchange of opinions about exhibition flights with their South Korean counterparts. Similar refueling support and defense exchanges are being coordinated for late February, when the Black Eagles return to South Korea. Defense exchanges between the two nations were effectively suspended after a South Korean destroyer pointed its fire control radar at a Maritime SDF surveillance plane in 2018. Following an improvement in bilateral relations under the initiative of the two countries’ leaders, joint exercises were held in November 2024 for the first time in about seven years. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]