Beep, beep, beep! "Scramble"… "Scramble"
Two unidentified aircraft rapidly approaching the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) off the northeastern East Sea were detected by the Air Force's Master Control and Reporting Center (MCRC) in Osan, Gyeonggi Province. The situation was immediately relayed to the 11th Fighter Wing, and a scramble order was issued simultaneously.
At the wing's Alert (ALT) facility, the sign marked "F-15K" lit up. As the loud alarm sounded and the order came down, pilots who had been on standby familiarizing themselves with the terrain grabbed their helmets, shouted "Scramble!" and instinctively sprinted toward the exit.
Maintenance and armament personnel, who had been standing by alongside them, followed at full speed and arrived at the igloo, the hangar housing the F-15K fighters. They urgently checked the aircraft's launch status, quickly removed the missile protective covers and safety pins, and swiftly completed the fuel check.
The pilots jumped into the cockpit, donned their helmets and gear, started the engines, and carried out pre-takeoff checks. The two F-15Ks then moved to the runway, sped down 500 meters, and with an eardrum-piercing roar, lifted into the sky in less than five seconds, disappearing into the clouds.
Total time to takeoff was around five minutes, demonstrating the readiness of the 8-minute standby team, which must be airborne within eight minutes in emergencies. The two F-15Ks that left Daegu base reached the airspace over Dokdo eight minutes after takeoff. They encountered two Russian military aircraft in the KADIZ north of Dokdo and completed the mission by issuing continuous warning broadcasts that guided them out of the zone. The scramble was a drill simulating unauthorized entry by two Russian fighters.
Fighter pilots at the 11th Fighter Wing in Daegu, which this reporter visited on the 28th of last month, were carrying out their 24-hour missions under the conviction that they are the heart of South Korea's airspace defense, with the mindset of "no abnormalities in Korean Peninsula airspace."
On that day as well, pilots on standby went through a real-time sequence — from the moment the scramble order was issued in response to an urgent situation, to takeoff and reporting to the control tower. Upon receiving information from the MCRC within the Korea Air and Space Operations Center (KAOC) in Osan on the direction and number of enemy aircraft, they launched and prepared for combat in less than five minutes.
The tension-filled ALT operates 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Fighter pilots work in teams of four on four rotating shifts. Once an enemy incursion into the KADIZ is detected, pilots must complete takeoff within a maximum of eight minutes of receiving the order from the Osan MCRC.
Not knowing when a scramble order will come, fighter pilots must remain awake through the night in the standby room, always wearing their G-suits. They cannot leave the room, and meals are delivered inside. Even restroom visits require reporting. Like partners, maintenance and armament personnel also serve alongside them at the ALT 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
Major Shin In-chul, second flight leader of the 122nd Fighter Squadron, said, "A fighter pilot must always be ready to scramble. Based on my pride as an F-15K pilot with long endurance and overwhelming weapons capability, I will always do my best in training to carry out missions flawlessly."
Since its establishment, the 11th Fighter Wing has responded to military provocations from all neighboring countries, including North Korea, Russia, China and Japan. It is the only unit in the Air Force that operates the F-15K "Slam Eagle," a latest-generation 4th-generation fighter capable of conducting continuous patrol and surveillance operations across the entire Korean Peninsula airspace.
The F-15K's weapons capabilities are rated as powerful as those of the F-35A stealth fighters operated by the 17th Fighter Wing. Its maximum combat radius reaches about 1,800 km, giving it the widest operational range among Air Force fighters. It can conduct a wide array of operations — air combat patrol, emergency sortie, interception, warning and show of force — across the entire Korean Peninsula in every direction. It is the only fighter that can take off from Daegu without aerial refueling and conduct operations for about 30 minutes over Dokdo, 175 miles (324 km) away, and about 20 minutes over Ieodo, 285 miles (527 km) away.
Equipped with various air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles aboard the F-15K, the 11th Fighter Wing specializes in long-range precision bombing operations. It also possesses high-altitude air superiority, intercontinental deployment capability, and multinational combined air force operational command capability, making it the core of cores among South Korea's Air Force assets. Since its establishment through 2025, it has received the Presidential Unit Citation eight times.
The F-15K, the main fighter operated by the 11th Fighter Wing, is a twin-engine aircraft with a maximum speed of Mach 2.5 (2,826 km/h) and a maximum endurance of 3 hours and 30 minutes. It measures 19.4 meters in length, 13.0 meters in width and 5.7 meters in height, with a maximum weapons payload of 11 tons.
Its main air-to-air weapons include the AIM-9X "Sidewinder," a short-range infrared-tracking missile linked to a helmet-mounted sight, and the AIM-120C "AMRAAM," a radar-guided long-range missile with superior detection and firing range that can shoot down enemy aircraft before they detect friendly fighters.
Air-to-ground weapons include the GPS-based "JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition)," a guided bomb created by attaching a guidance kit to a conventional bomb to transform it into a smart weapon. It can penetrate 2.5-meter-thick concrete walls before destroying the interior. The "SLAM-ER (AGM-84H SLAM-ER)," a long-range cruise missile with a maximum range of 280 km, is unrivaled in accuracy. It can be launched from Daejeon and precisely strike a soccer goalpost at Gudeok Stadium in Busan.
There is also the "Taurus," the long-range air-to-ground missile most feared by North Korea's military leadership. When launched directly from Daegu, it can fly 500 km and precisely strike North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's office in Pyongyang within 20 minutes.
Colonel Kim Hak-sun, commander of the air operations group, said, "F-15K pilots of the 11th Fighter Wing continuously conduct realistic training on tactical procedures, and based on this, they carry out missions without hesitation while maintaining composure in any situation."
The 11th Fighter Wing's maintenance hangar is 1.5 times the size of a soccer field. Even in bad weather, many maintenance personnel were sweating as they meticulously carried out their work. On the day this reporter visited, two F-15K main fighters were in the hangar undergoing field-level maintenance (inspections). The hangar can accommodate six fighters simultaneously.
After leaving the maintenance hangar, we moved to the flight simulator center. Fighter pilots without flight schedules train here. Sitting in a virtual cockpit identical to an actual fighter, they master flight procedures and techniques. It is especially useful for building the ability to prepare for rarely encountered abnormal situations such as bad weather or equipment failures. Depending on their assigned missions, they also enhance their operational capabilities by flying over attack targets in North Korean territory.
The 11th Fighter Wing was established on August 1, 1958, at Gimpo base as part of "Operation Musul," a force enhancement plan following the Korean War. It relocated to its current Daegu base in October 1970. It introduced the F-4E "Phantom" in 1977 and became the first unit to introduce the F-15K fighter in 2005, successfully completing force integration in July 2008. It has since established itself as the Air Force's strongest representative fighter wing. The unit's nickname is "Gwangseongdae."
It has three subordinate fighter squadrons: the 102nd, 110th and 122nd Fighter Squadrons. Of the 61 F-15Ks introduced, two have crashed, leaving 59 currently in operation. Among them, the 122nd Fighter Squadron was the first to integrate the F-15K and begin operations, and has counted former Air Force Chief of Staff Lee Young-su and current Chief of Staff Son Seok-rak among its members.
