South Korea’s Air Force and the French Air and Space Force held a three-day joint air exercise at Cheongju Air Base from 15 to 17 September, pairing South Korean F-35A stealth fighters with French Rafales as part of France’s PÉGASE 26 long-range deployment. The drill centred on interoperability, tactical flying and mutual air-to-air refuelling, with both sides using the event to practice combined operations over the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea contributed F-35A, F-15K, KF-16 and FA-50 fighters, along with a KC-330 tanker, while France deployed two Rafale F4 jets and an A330 MRTT. Crews carried out mixed-force sorties and refuelling exchanges between Korean and French tanker aircraft, a notable step in coalition tanker integration.
The exercise resumed bilateral air drills between the two countries after about three years and formed the Korean segment of PÉGASE 26, France’s wider Indo-Pacific airpower projection. Cheongju Air Base, about 110 kilometres south of Seoul, served as the hub for the training.