The United States Air Force (USAF) has deployed its newest gunship, the AC-130J “Ghostrider” aircraft, to South Korea for joint exercises. Equipped with precision-guided missiles, cannons, and howitzers, the heavily armed ground-attack variant of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft is intended as a strong warning to North Korea.
The joint exercise, dubbed “Teak Knife,” has been ongoing for about a month and practices infiltrating North Korea in an emergency. The two sides have been conducting special ops training, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff. This marks the first time the upgraded AC-130J variant has taken part in joint exercises in South Korea.
In a rare move, the JCS released videos of the exercise. The video footage shows the AC-130J deploying a range of weaponry including AGM-113 Hellfire missiles, air-to-ground smart munitions like the GBU-39, 30mm cannons, and 105mm howitzers.
The JCS also said that JCS Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum visited the training site “to show the military’s will to remain prepared for battle.” The Teak Knife exercise includes a scenario of removing Pyongyang’s leadership, and the presence of the top military commander monitoring the training is believed to be a warning against North Korea’s leadership, who threatened to make provocations ahead of the upcoming joint ROK-US Freedom Shield (FS) exercise.
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