Around noon on the 13th at Gwangju Songjeong Station in Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Special City. No sooner had I gotten off the KTX than a thunderous "bang" split the sky. It was the sound of a fighter jet taking off from Gwangju military airport about 3 kilometers from the station.
The closer I got to the Air Force 1st Fighter Wing, the louder the roar grew. T-50 advanced trainers shot off the runway every 5 to 10 minutes. A nearby resident said, "There is even a joke that they 'ride a fighter jet to go eat,'" noting, "It means planes take off that often all day long."
Opened in 1966, Gwangju military airport has been the "cradle of the red muffler," producing Air Force pilots for nearly 60 years. At the same time, it is a Republic of Korea–United States Combined Operating Base (COB) where, in the event of a contingency, U.S. air power deploys and fighter jets disperse to continue operations if key bases are attacked. It also has logistics infrastructure that supports operations of U.S. reinforcement forces, such as war reserve materiel (WRM) and aviation fuel storage and refueling facilities.
The situation changed rapidly after the government selected the site as a candidate for the Honam semiconductor cluster. President Lee Jae-myung on the 10th directed the Ministry of National Defense to "take measures so that the functions of the Gwangju base can be temporarily assigned to another military airport by mid-2028 and the site can be put to early use as a semiconductor industrial complex."
If the government's plan proceeds, Gwangju military airport will, in effect, have to be vacated in just two years. Within and outside the military, there is concern that transferring the 1st Fighter Wing is one task, but deciding where to move Gwangju's functions of U.S. deployment, dispersion, and logistics support is an even more complex problem.
◇ Southern hub to receive U.S. reinforcement forces in contingencies
In peacetime, Gwangju military airport is used mainly by the South Korean Air Force, but its role changes in a contingency. It becomes a hub that receives U.S. reinforcement forces entering the peninsula from Japan, the Pacific, and the U.S. mainland, and disperses concentrated air power at Osan and Gunsan to the rear to sustain operations.
In fact, there have been multiple instances where forces from Kadena, a U.S. Air Force base in Okinawa, Japan, deployed to Gwangju for training. Kadena is a key U.S. Air Force base in the western Pacific, home to the 18th Wing. Located in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, Gwangju also holds strategic value in enabling rearward dispersion of forces if relatively closer bases like Osan and Gunsan come under attack.
The U.S. military has conducted training that assumes it becomes difficult to use Gunsan, moving fighter jets to Gwangju to continue operations. U.S. Air Force F-16s and F-22s and U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs have also deployed to Gwangju for combined exercises with South Korea. Forward arming and refueling training has been conducted to rapidly supply landed fighters with fuel and munitions and launch them again.
If Gwangju military airport disappears, another base must assume these functions. Existing operational plans would have to be overhauled, including where to disperse U.S. fighters in contingencies and where to receive reinforcement forces arriving from overseas.
Rep. Yu Yong-weon of the People Power Party, a member of the National Defense Committee, said, "Other fighter wings are already at saturation due to construction of facilities to field the KF-21 and repaving of deteriorated runways."
◇ Harder than moving a runway: logistics functions
Gwangju's strategic value is not limited to its runway. It has logistics facilities that supply fuel and materiel so that reinforcement forces can be put into operations immediately upon arrival.
It is reported that storage facilities for war reserve materiel are built inside the Gwangju base. War reserve materiel is stockpiled in advance on site to reduce the time it takes in contingencies for reinforcement troops to bring equipment and supplies from the United States.
There are also large-scale aviation fuel storage and refueling facilities. During the South Korea–U.S. combined air exercise "Freedom Flag 26-1" in April, the U.S. military supplied more than 91,000 gallons (about 340,000 liters) of aviation fuel to U.S. aircraft at the Gwangju base, checking the operational capability of related facilities.
Emptying Gwangju does not mean simply sending aircraft to another runway. The alternate base must have parking space and maintenance, refueling, and communications facilities, and U.S. materiel stockpiled in Gwangju must be moved or newly established.
Time is also an issue. It took about four years to build facilities at Cheongju to accommodate 40 F-35 fighters. Military experts say it could take at least three to four years to disperse and accommodate Gwangju's aircraft and related facilities, as well as U.S. support functions.
A military official said, "Sending planes to a different runway and relocating the operational functions a single base handled are entirely different matters."
◇ Even if South Korean forces leave, it's not over: variables in ROK-U.S. consultations
The return of land provided to U.S. forces also remains. At Gwangju military airport, there are facilities and areas provided to the U.S. military under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The land does not automatically revert to the South Korean side just because the South Korean Air Force withdraws. Returning facilities and land used by the U.S. military requires separate ROK-U.S. consultations.
In the end, to secure the Gwangju military airport site by mid-2028 as the government aims, three timelines must align: transfer of the South Korean Air Force, redeployment of U.S. operational functions, and the return of provided land. Even if the South Korean Air Force leaves first, if consultations with the U.S. or the establishment of alternate operational functions are not complete, it may be difficult to immediately use the entire site as a semiconductor industrial complex.
Rep. Yu said, "The presidential office said on the 10th that ROK-U.S. consultations would begin soon, but such consultations typically take years in and of themselves," adding, "In the case of the Daegu base, a similar matter has been under consultation for years and is still not complete."
The South Korean Air Force must also move the 1st Fighter Wing's aircraft and personnel, hangars, maintenance facilities, and simulators. If temporary facilities are built first before a final transfer site is decided, duplicate investment issues arise because they must be moved again.
An Air Force official said, "We need to consider both quickly establishing a semiconductor industrial complex and ensuring there are no gaps in Air Force operations and the ROK-U.S. combined defense posture."