US Marine Corps F-35Bs to visit South Korea

An F-35B flies over the British Royal Navy's aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth. Courtesy of Lockheed Martin

By Kang Seung-woo

Ten U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs, embarked on a U.K. aircraft carrier, will visit Korea for the first time in four years, according to media reports, as part of a larger deployment to the Indo Pacific region.

Currently, Britain's newest carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, and its strike group are on a seven-month deployment to the region that includes a port call at Busan before it sails for Japan. The 10 Marine Corps F-35Bs make up part of the carrier's air wing, alongside eight F-35Bs from a joint U.K. Royal Air Force/Fleet Air Arm squadron, and are taking part in an extensive interoperability exercise as part of bolstering the historic U.S.-U.K. defense partnership

Although an arrival date has yet to be fixed, it is likely to be in August.

The F-35B is a short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the F-35 program, and a Marine squadron with the stealth jets participated in a combined exercise with Korea in April 2018.

In April, the Ministry of National Defense here announced the British aircraft carrier's visit to Korea along with the U.K. F-35Bs as part of the Royal Navy's efforts to expand its presence in the Indo-Pacific region, but the U.S. participation was not made public.

Meanwhile, the arrival of the carrier with its F-35Bs comes at a time when Korea is working on building its own 30,000-ton light aircraft carrier for deployment by 2033, which has raised calls for additional purchases of the stealth jets.

Also, this year's port call will mark the third visit to Korea by British aircraft carriers. The U.K. previously sent light aircraft carriers to Busan in 1992 and 1997.