As the U.S.-Israel war front against Iran expands into the Middle East and surrounding countries, the likelihood is rising that the U.S. Forces Korea's strategic asset has moved from Korea to other regions. That assessment comes as large transport planes identified recently at the U.S. Air Force base in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, have been found to have left Korea.
According to a real-time flight-tracking site on the 8th, the U.S. military's C-5 and C-17 transport planes that landed at Osan late last month took off intensively this month. Most of the transports appear to have moved to the U.S. military base in Anchorage, Alaska.
In particular, movements of the C-5, a large transport plane, are drawing attention. At least two C-5s arrived in Osan late last month and left Korea on the 28th and on the 2nd. The destination is unknown, but they are recorded as having flown for more than 14 hours. This raises the possibility that they headed to the U.S. mainland or the Middle East.
According to military sources and others, the C-17 regularly lands at Osan for the transport of U.S. military equipment and troops, but C-5 stopovers at Osan are unusual. Previously, U.S. Forces Korea was found to have moved some Patriot units deployed at other U.S. bases in Korea to Osan. Considering various indications, there is a view that parts of the Patriot battalions left Korea via the C-5.
C-17s departed intensively from Osan between the 3rd and the 7th. Six have been confirmed to have gone to Anchorage. However, there is also speculation that the movement of U.S. transports may be related to the Freedom Shield exercise, a South Korea-U.S. combined training that begins on the 9th.
Many say that even if the diversion of U.S. Forces Korea assets to the Middle East has not yet been carried out, it is only a matter of time if the war situation with Iran drags on. Two U.S. Forces Korea Patriot battalions were also rotated to the Middle East during the "Midnight Hammer" operation, which carried out a surprise strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in June last year, and returned in October of the same year.
There are also concerns that diverting U.S. Forces Korea assets could affect readiness against North Korea. While the two militaries maintained the position that they cannot disclose matters related to the movement and redeployment of U.S. Forces Korea assets, they emphasized that they are maintaining readiness to ensure there are no abnormalities.