USFK eyes making S. Korea into 'regional sustainment hub' to expedite MRO of assets

▲ This photo shows Gen. Xavier Brunson, the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), taken on Jan. 26, 2026. (Yonhap)

USFK-regional sustainment hub

USFK eyes making S. Korea into 'regional sustainment hub' to expedite MRO of assets

By Kim Hyun-soo

SEOUL, April 23 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) aims to position South Korea as a "regional sustainment hub" by leveraging the country's outstanding military production capabilities to expedite the repair and maintenance of U.S. military assets, the USFK commander said.

Gen. Xavier Brunson, who doubles as commander of the Combined Forces Command, made the remarks in a written document submitted to U.S. Congress on Wednesday (local time), highlighting the prominence of South Korea's defense industry in the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) sectors.

"USFK, supported by partners from Department of State, our military services and industry, is establishing a regional sustainment hub in support of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command," Brunson said in the document.

"Setting the theater for competition, crisis, or conflict is essential," he said, noting the lessons learned from COVID-19 pandemic, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and technological innovations made supply lines more susceptible to disruption and interdiction.

The USFK commander praised South Korea's defense industrial base as "one of the finest military production capabilities in the world," stressing that leveraging the industrial base to support MRO could mitigate the "tyranny of distance" across theaters.

South Korea has conducted depot level maintenance on common platforms, mostly U.S. fighter aircraft, such as F-16, F-15, UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook, since 1978.

It has more recently sought to expand its service to U.S. maritime assets and other systems, like the Patriot missile defense batteries and repair for T-55 aircraft engines.

The U.S. Department of Defense disclosed its plans to adopt the "regional sustainment framework" in 2024 to utilize MRO capabilities from partner nations instead of returning assets to the U.S. mainland for major repairs.

"We simply can't afford in cost and time to be able to send major end items all the way back to the United States to get repaired and then to be able to return here to the ROK during conflict," a U.S. military source said earlier this week.

The source said the U.S. military plans to take advantage of the "world-class" industrial base here on the Korean Peninsula to repair assets immediately and return them to the warfighter on ground.

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