The ROKAF is the second country in Asia, after Japan, that started to receive the F-35A Lightning II in 2018.

Jason Chen

HH-60P 01-762 of the 233 CSRS photographed against the background of the Hallasan mountains.

11 October 2018, Arjun Sarup

Cheongju (RKTU) K-59

RWY 06R/24L, 06L/24R     POS 36°42'60"N 127°29'57"E     ELEV 191 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
17 Fighter Wing

151 Fighter Squadron F-35A


152 Fighter Squadron F-35A


156 Fighter Squadron next unit to receive
F-35A
29 Tactical Fighter Weapons Group

191 Tactical Training Squadron various a/c on loan


192 Tactical Training Squadron various a/c on loan
6 Search & Rescue Group

231 Combat Search& Rescue Squadron HH-47D


233 Combat Search & Rescue Squadron HH-60P


235 Search & Rescue Squadron AS332L
AS332L2
Bell 412
HH-32A
It now seems both 151 and 152 FS operate the F-35A, current fleet being evenly distributed between both units.
Current group and squadron names are more accurate translations for former names 29 Tactical Development & Training Group, 191 TDTS and 192 TDTS.

The F-16 is the most numerous fighter in ROKAF service, next to the F-5, with 180 of all models (thirty F-16Cs, ten F-16Ds, 95 KF-16Cs and 45 KF-16Ds) received from 1986. They formed two new wings at two new airbases.

Marco Pennings

Only five HH-47Ds are known to be operational with 235 SRS since 1991. They operate next to seven HH-32s in the SAR role.

Dietmar Fenners

Chungju/Jungwon (RKTI) K-75

RWY 18R/36L, 18L/36R     POS 37°01'48"N 127°53'07"E     ELEV 281 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
19 Fighter Wing

155 Fighter Squadron KF-16C
KF-16D
Rhino


161 Fighter Squadron F-16C
F-16D
Boramae


162 Fighter Squadron F-16C
F-16D
Black Eagle
39 Reconnaissance Wing

159 Tactical Recon Squadron KF-16C
KF-16D
Phoenix
159 FS was renamed 159 TRS after the retirement of the RF-4C. Some KF-16s were modified to carry recon pods. 159 TRS belonged to both 19 FW and 39 TRG, however 159 TRS is now fully subordinate to 39 RW.
Beginning November 2020, the 39th TRG was upgraded to wing status. It was set up to manage all recon assets of the RoKAF. At this moment the exact designation of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unit at Sacheon is unknown. Also part of the 39th RW are the RC-800RA Geumgangs, however for the moment we presume they stay based at Seongnam.

Daegu (RKTN) K-2

RWY 13R/31L, 13L/31R     POS 35°53'39"N 128°39'32"E     ELEV 116 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
11 Fighter Wing

102 Fighter Squadron F-15K Blue Dragon


110 Fighter Squadron F-15K


122 Fighter Squadron F-15K Jaguar

The F-15K Slam Eagle is the most potent fighter in the ROKAF arsenal. The badge of the 11 Fighter Wings adorns the air intake of 08-058 coming in for landing.

19 December 2018, Chan Hyuk Han

Some RoKAF fighter aircraft do carry unit badges. KF-5F 10-611 pictured on final approach with a full-colour 105 FS badge on 3 May 2019.

Chan Hyuk Han

Gangneung (RKNN) K-18

RWY 08/26     POS 37°45'13"N 128°56'37"E     ELEV 35 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
18 Fighter Wing

105 Fighter Squadron F-5E
F-5F
KF-5F


112 Fighter Squadron F-5E
F-5F
KF-5F

Gimhae (RKPK) K-1

RWY 18R/36L, 18L/36R     POS 35°10'46"N 128°56'18"E     ELEV 13 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
5 Tactical Air Transport Wing

251 Tactical Air Support Squadron C-130H
C-130H-30
C-130J-30


258 Tactical Air Transport Squadron CN235-100M
CN235-220M


261 Air Tanker Squadron KC-330 Cygnus
51 Air Control Group

271 AEW&C Squadron E-737
Air Force Logistics Command

Maintenance and Repair Facility (MARF)

Twenty CN235s form the backbone of the current transport fleet. Twelve were delivered in 1993-1994, and eight came from Indonesian Aerospace in 2001-2002.

Unknown

All four KC-330 Cygnus ordered have been delivered.

Chan Hyuk Han

Gunsan (RKJK) K-8; Kunsan

RWY 18/36     POS 35°54'14"N 126°36'57"E     ELEV 29 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
38 Fighter Group

111 Fighter Squadron KF-16C
KF-16D
The 38th Group is subordinate to the 10th Fighter Wing at Suwon AB.

The RoKAF has its own Tiger squadron, 111 FS operating from Gunsan. The majority of their F-16s have a tigerband on the tail.

Jamie Chang

Captured during the 2017 Gyeongnam Sacheon Aerospace Expo, this F-5E has the small 206 FS badge in front of the intake.

Stefan Goossens

Gwangju (RKJJ) K-57

RWY 04/22     POS 35°07'33"N 126°48'35"E     ELEV 48 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
1 Fighter Wing

189 Flight Training Squadron T-50


206 Fighter Squadron TA-50 Block 2


216 Flight Training Squadron T-50

Sacheon (RKPS) K-4

RWY 06R/24L, 06L/24R     POS 35°05'19"N 128°04'13"E     ELEV 25 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
3 Training Wing

213 Flight Training Squadron KT-1


215 Flight Training Squadron KT-1


217 Flight Training Squadron KT-1


236 Flight Training Squadron KT-1
52 Test Evaluation Group

281 Test Evaluation Squadron FA-50
T-50
39 Reconnaissance Wing

??? Recon Squadron RQ-4 Global Hawk
Beginning November 2020, the 39th TRG was upgraded to wing status. It was set up to manage all recon assets of the RoKAF. At this moment the exact designation of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unit at Sacheon is unknown. Also part of the 39th RW are the RC-800RA Geumgangs, however for the moment we presume they stay based at Seongnam.

The KAI KT-1 Wong Bee basic trainer replaced the T-37 at Sacheon from 2000. A total of 85 were received, followed by twenty KA-1 FAC aircraft in 2005-2006.

Marcel Bos

At least seven An-2s could be seen on sattelite footage on Seongmu Air Base. These old bi-planes are allegedly used as adversary training within the ROKAF.

Ronald Stevelink

Seongmu (RKTE) K-60

RWY 16/34     POS 36°34'05"N 127°30'00"E     ELEV 88 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
28 Flight Group

208 Squadron? An-2
Air Force Academy

212 Flight Training Squadron KT-100

A single B737-3Z8 is in use since the mid nineties. It is now operated by 257 Squadron.

Chiho Lee

For its tasking the 257 Squadron can use a wide variety of aircraft including two CN235-220M(VIP).

Chan Hyuk Han

Seongnam (RKSM) K-16; Sinchonri, Seoul AB

RWY 01/19, 02/20     POS 37°26'45"N 127°06'50"E     ELEV 92 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
15 Special Missions Wing

255 Special Operation Squadron C-130H
C-130H-30
MC-130K


256 Tactical Air Transport Squadron CN235-100M
35 Flying Group

257 Special Flight Squadron BAe748-2A/248
B737-3Z8
B747-8
VH-60P
CN235-220M(VIP)
VCH-92
39 Reconnaissance Wing

296 Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron RC-800 (BAe125-800RA)
RC-800 (BAe125-800SIG)
Falcon 2000S SIGINT
Black Bat
At the moment we only know the RC-800RA Geumgangs are officially part of the 39th RW. We presume the SIGINT aircraft will also be managed by this wing.
Beginning November 2020, the 39th TRG was upgraded to wing status. It was set up to manage all recon assets of the RoKAF. At this moment the exact designation of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unit at Sacheon is unknown. Also part of the 39th RW are the RC-800RA Geumgangs, however for the moment we presume they stay based at Seongnam.

ROKAF currently flies four Raytheon Hawker BAe125-800SIG Geumgang, and four BAe125-800RA aircraft, code-named Baekdu as shown here.

Chan Hyuk Han

Two Falcon 2000S SIGINT were added to the fleet of the 296 TRS since September 2017.

Chan Hyuk Han

Seosan/Haemi (RKTP) K-76

RWY 03R/21L, 03L/21R     POS 36°42'15"N 126°29'10"E     ELEV 39 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
20 Fighter Wing

120 Fighter Squadron KF-16C
KF-16D


121 Fighter Squadron KF-16C
KF-16D


123 Fighter Squadron KF-16C
KF-16D


157 Fighter Squadron KF-16C
KF-16D
Air Force Logistics Command

Maintenance and Repair Facility (MARF)

KF-16D 01-529 on finals. It has a toned-down 20 FW badge.

Chan Hyuk Han

A fleet of eight VH-60P have been delivered to 257 Squadron.

Arjan Sarup

Suwon (RKSW) K-13

RWY 15L/33R, 15R/33L     POS 37°14'22"N 127°00'25"E     ELEV 88 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
10 Fighter Wing

101 Fighter Squadron KF-5E
KF-5F


153 Fighter Squadron F-4E


201 Fighter Squadron KF-5E
KF-5F

Old but gold, F-4E Phantom 60-493 recovering in beautiful winter light. The only active Phantom unit 153 FS is now operating from Suwon. Around twenty-five are still active.

Jamie Chang

KF-5F 10-604 of 201 Fighter Squadron.

Unknown

Wonju/Hoengseong (RKNW) K-46

RWY 03/21     POS 37°26'17"N 127°57'37"E     ELEV 329 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
8 Fighter Wing

103 Fighter Squadron FA-50


203 Fighter Squadron FA-50


237 Fighter Squadron KA-1
53 Special Flight Group

239 Special Flying Squadron
Black Eagles Aerobatic Flying Team
T-50B

FA-50 13-004 is seen making an approach after having completed its sortie at an undisclosed airbase.

Jamie Chang

Twenty KA-1s, the armed version of the KT-1 trainer have been delivered to the 237 TCS.

Jamie Chang

Yecheon (RKTY) K-58

RWY 10/28     POS 36°37'55"N 128°21'17"E     ELEV 354 ft

Wing Squadron Aircraft Type(s) Name Badge
16 Fighter Wing

115 Fighter Squadron TA-50


202 Fighter Squadron FA-50

The RoKAF is using the KAI TA-50 as a lead-in fighter trainer. Like the T-50, it also has the cut-off vertical tail.

Withheld

The KAI FA-50 is a light-attack version of the original T-50. As can be seen it has a more standard vertical tail.

Ronald Stevelink

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