U.S. military opens space force unit in S. Korea

▲ This file photo, taken March 16, 2022, shows the U.S. Air Force's U-2S reconnaissance aircraft landing at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometers south of Seoul, after North Korea fired an unspecified projectile earlier in the day. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

USFK-space unit

U.S. military opens space force unit in S. Korea

By Chae Yun-hwan

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea, Dec. 14 (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap) -- The U.S. military launched a space force unit in South Korea on Wednesday, adding a new warfighting tool in line with its push to build "multi-domain" operational capabilities.

The creation of the U.S. Space Forces Korea, a component unit of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), came as Seoul and Washington are strengthening security coordination against increasingly complex North Korean nuclear and missile threats.

USFK Commander Gen. Paul LaCamera hosted a ceremony to mark the launch of the new unit at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometers south of Seoul. It will be led by Lt. Col. Joshua McCullion.

The new unit is expected to help monitor, detect and trace projectiles from the North and elsewhere in an operation likely to reinforce overall deterrence capabilities of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, observers said.

The unit's activation represents an effort by the U.S. military to secure multi-domain warfighting capabilities to cover threats from all realms, including air, land, sea, cyberspace and outer space.

It is one of the few U.S. Space Force's units to be established outside the U.S. mainland, with the armed service launching a component command at the Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii last month.

It joins other components of the USFK -- the Eighth Army, the Seventh Air Force, the Naval Forces Korea, the Marine Forces Korea and the Special Operations Command Korea.

South Korea's Air Force established an integrated unit for space operations at the air base earlier this month, raising expectations for stronger space security cooperation with the U.S. military.

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