SUWON AIR BASE, South Korea –

On Friday, July 12, as the sun began to set, turning the sky a hazy orange hue, four F/A-18 Hornet aircraft from Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA(AW)) 224, Marine Aircraft Group 31 (MAG), 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW), landed at Suwon Air Base, South Korea.

The next morning, the remaining aircraft would arrive at Suwon AB, followed by the remaining members of the squadron the following day. The arrival of VMFA(AW)-224 marked the beginning of a significant exercise at Suwon.

“VMFA(AW)-224 came to Suwon Air Base to conduct a training deployment as part of our unit deployment program,” said U.S. Marine Corps Captain Zachary Mills, a pilot with VMFA(AW)-224.

Over the next month, the Marines’ F/A-18 squadron trained with the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) to improve mutual flying capabilities.

Known as the Fighting Bengals, VMFA(AW)-224 deployed from Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Beaufort, South Carolina, to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, in March 2024 as part of the Marine Corps’ Unit Deployed Program (UDP). The UDP is designed to provide overseas training and familiarity with foreign terrain to units in the continental U.S. VMFA(AW)-224 is currently augmenting the F-35B Lightning II and KC-130J Super Hercules aircraft squadrons of MAG-12, 1st Marine Air Wing at MCAS Iwakuni with the unique capabilities of the F/A-18 Hornet.

“One of the most impressive things about this whole exercise was that we flew about 80 pallets of equipment to Osan Air Base and unloaded all of the cargo at Suwon Air Base within eight hours using Korean tractor-trailers,” Mills said. “In three days, we moved the entire squadron from Iwakuni, a Marine Corps Air Base, to Suwon Air Base, a Republic of Korea Air Base, for the first time, and it went off without a hitch.”

Earlier in their deployment, VMFA(AW)-224 operated from Anderson Air Base, Guam during Cope North 24 and now from Suwon AB, giving them diverse experience operating in the Indo-Pacific region.

“Bringing our squadron here to Suwon is a historic exercise. There has never been a Marine F/A-18 squadron that has come to this airfield before,” said Mills. “One of the missions of VMFA(AW)-224 here is to evaluate the feasibility of further deployments to Suwon Air Base.”

Suwon AB has a rich history, having been established during the Korean War, and US forces have maintained a presence at the base for years, including various US Air Force units both during and after the war. However, in recent years, the air base has not seen a US detachment of this size.

“In historical context, Suwon has an extremely rich history, it’s been around for 70 years. So if you look back, there was obviously a larger American presence here in the past, but we don’t have all the data on that,” explained U.S. Air Force Captain Austin Stamper, commander of the 607th Materiel Maintenance, Squadron Detachment 2 and one of the main coordinators for providing space, time and equipment so that the air base has the capacity to support the Marines and their training. “So as far as exercises go, and particularly coalition and alliance exercises, this is the largest we’ve ever had.”

Over the past year, Suwon AB personnel have worked to participate in more integrated exercises and bring in different branches for training opportunities. “We started last fall. We had a joint flight exercise that brought in 25 additional Air Force personnel,” Stamper said. “Next, we worked with the Marines and were able to secure participation in the Korean Marine Exchange Program in the spring, which brought in about 88 people. Then we gradually increased and today we have a squadron of about 260 people deployed here.”

By hosting the Fighting Bengals, the U.S. Air Force’s 607th MMS in Suwon wanted to demonstrate its integration capabilities with the ROKAF.

“The fact that the Marines were able to achieve their objective and send the entire squadron here is a testament to our ability to host large contingents of troops here in Suwon and support incoming forces that are working closely with the Koreans,” Stamper said.

“The opportunity to work with the ROKAF was one of our primary missions here,” Mills said. “Another was to build and maintain relationships with the South Koreans while conducting joint air operations.”

Members of the ROKAF’s VMFA(AW)-224, 607th MMS, and 10th Fighter Wing worked together to plan flight operations, train together, and operate autonomously together in the same spaces.

“It’s historic that we’ve done mission planning and joint air operations with them,” Mills explained. “I think the opportunity to come here to Suwon has led to a better understanding of the tactics, techniques and procedures of the American and Korean forces, as well as more insight into some of our capabilities. We have a lot in common.”

“By conducting the mission with U.S. F/A-18 pilots, we can take the operational capabilities of the South Korean-American alliance to the next level,” said ROKAF Captain Young Hyun Jo, a pilot with the 19th Fighter Wing 155 Squadron. “As a member of the long-standing South Korean-American alliance, we will continue to do our best to complete our mission with pride.”