The United States, Japan and South Korea will hold their first multi-domain trilateral joint military exercise, code-named “FREEDOM EDGE”, at the end of June.
In addition to traditional themes such as joint maritime and air operations, participating countries will also organize exercises on topics such as cyber warfare and space warfare.
(From left) Japanese, US and South Korean defence chiefs Minoru Kihara, Lloyd Austin and Shin Won-sik meet on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday. Photo: AFP
According to reports, this exercise is a concrete manifestation of the United States' promotion of "NATO-ification of the Indo-Pacific", and South Korea and Japan also have their own plans to "hide private assets".
There is a breakthrough in the scope of cooperation
"Freedom Edge" is a cooperation project finalized by the defense ministers of the United States, Japan and South Korea during a meeting in Singapore in early June. The name of the exercise is a combination of the two annual large-scale bilateral military exercises between the United States and South Korea, "Freedom Shield" and "Sharp Blade". The exercise is based on the "crisis of common concern" of the three countries, led by the United States, and carried out in cooperation with Japan and South Korea in a division of labor and division of regions.
The exercise will be held at the end of June and will last for about 5 days, during which a command post exercise will be conducted. Maritime exercises will be held in the Sea of Japan, the waters around Jeju Island and the Philippine Sea. The US Navy will dispatch the "Roosevelt" aircraft carrier strike group, and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter destroyer will conduct a "quasi-dual aircraft carrier" exercise with it. The South Korean Navy will send the "Aegis" ship to participate. The air exercise is concentrated in the airspace over the Sea of Japan, and some aircraft carrier-based aircraft will conduct combat training at the Philippine Sea target range east of Okinawa.
Foreign media predict that the exercise will be divided into four phases, including command posts and actual troops, covering multiple combat domains such as sea, air, space and network.
At the initial stage of the exercise, the United States, Japan and South Korea activated the joint ballistic missile defense mechanism on the grounds of regional missile threats. After monitoring sabotage and harassment activities from the cyber and space fields, the US Indo-Pacific Command delegated command authority to the US-ROK "United Nations Command" and the US Forces Japan Command, and took the lead in establishing a tripartite joint command organization, with regional command organizations set up in Seoul, Busan, Jeju Island and Yokota.
During the active stage of the exercise, in addition to conventional sea and air training, the Japanese and South Korean cyber warfare forces will conduct tracing and attack operations with the US cyber warfare task force in the form of "red and blue" confrontation. The US Space Force will be stationed in Okinawa to carry out information suppression and space orbital warfare with the US Space Command in South Korea, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force "Space Operations Team" and the South Korean Air Force.
Everyone has their own priorities
As a framework of multi-domain cooperation between the United States, Japan and South Korea, "FREEDOM EDGE" can be called the annual "big game" of the three countries, and no matter what the "game" is. "Outside the theater," the three sides also have their own plans.
The United States is the one to save the game and will send aircraft carriers and strategic bombers to participate in the exercise. On the one hand, through large-scale global exercises, the allies can fulfill the "extended deterrence," "umbrella" and other commitments, promote the allies as a "pawn" for regional security affairs, and consolidate its position as the leading brother; on the other hand, the U.S. is the organizer and will send aircraft carriers, strategic bombers, etc. to participate in the exercise. Consolidate its position as the leading brother; on the other hand, take the opportunity to start the deployment of military forces regionally and the echo of "Free Blade"; during the same period, the United States also held a "Valour Shield", "Shield" and other exercises. "Rim of the Pacific" and other multinational exercises, basically covering the entire Indo-Pacific region.
In addition, the U.S. has also recently released the formation of the Pacific Air Forces Command in Japan, for the Indo-Pacific region to station the network warfare task force and other information, drills designed for space and network warfare and other content, but also for the above action to build momentum and warm-up.
Japan will take this exercise as a "milestone" to expand military capabilities outward. "Borrowing the ship for the sea" to expand the influence of defense diplomacy, at the same time, "learning from the master" the U.S. military to strengthen coastal attack, network warfare, space warfare capability building. For example, during the exercise, the Japan Self-Defence Force land-based missile force will be the first time allied intelligence supports the implementation of a "enemy base missile attack" simulation. The multi-disciplinary exercises involving the legal basis of the use of force, scope and attack authority, etc., are also another step by Japan in the constraints of the "constitution of peace." In addition, the Kishida government, which has faced internal and external problems this year, is also trying to take advantage of the ever-expanding defense cooperation between the United States, Japan and South Korea to increase public support.
The South Korean government also attaches great importance to the exercise, with Yun Seok-yul, who is in a similar situation as the Kishida administration, having a low popularity rating of over 65 percent. According to the report, the military industry and U.S.-South Korean military cooperation are the current government's weak point, and Yun Seok-hyup hopes to use the "small turnaround" in the defense field to lift the government's fortunes.
However, according to some analyses, the exercise still has many problems. For example, due to the lack of a joint encrypted information and communication platform, the ballistic missile early warning exercises are relatively mature, intelligence information sharing will still be supplemented by the U.S. military "transit"; the South Korean military forces participating in the exercise, moreover, are significantly smaller than those of the U.S. and Japan.
In turn, there is a "difference of views" between South Korea and Japan as the Japanese side is more concerned about anti-submarine warfare training, while the South Korean side proposed to hold anti-aircraft training, which was opposed by the Japanese side and canceled.
New trends in allied strategies
Regarding the upcoming military exercise "FREEDOM EDGE," senior military officers of the three countries attached great importance to it and personally encouraged and boosted the exercise.
The new commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (IPC), Papparo, said it is a concrete manifestation of the deepening relations between the United States and its allies, which will have a significant effect in the Indo-Pacific region. South Korea's Defense Minister Shin Won-chik said that as the U.S.-South Korea alliance draws closer, the latter has greater confidence in the security foundations of Northeast Asia. Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said they will learn advanced techniques and tactics from the United States and other allies and continue to consolidate the strong alliance relationship.
According to foreign media analysis, the United States took the initiative to combine two bilateral exercises and organize the “FREEDOM EDGE”, aiming to create a new model for alliance relations in the Indo-Pacifc region. In the future, the United States could use this as a framework to attract more allies and partners to participate in the exercise and gradually establish regional defense mechanisms such as the AUKUS alliance, the “US-Japan-India-Australia” quadrilateral framework, and the security cooperation between the United States, Japan and the Philippines. A similar new trilateral structure between the United States, Japan and South Korea is being used to advance the process of “NATO unification of the Indo-Pacific.”
In recent military exercises in the Indo-Pacific region such as "Valiant Shield", the United States has continuously brought in foreign warships from France, the Netherlands and other regions to participate in the exercises.
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