North Korean leader inspects air combat drills, calls for increased war preparations
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected air combat and air defense drills by an air force squadron this week and stressed the need for stronger and continuous war preparations across all military units, state media reported on May 17.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that Mr. Kim Jong-un gave the above instruction during a visit to a squadron of the 1st Guards Air Division of the Korean People's Army on May 15. He called on "all units in the entire army to make a fundamental change in war preparations with a permanent combat readiness posture."
According to KCNA, the drills are aimed at familiarizing flight squadrons as well as air defense missile, radar and electronic warfare subunits with the tasks of detecting, tracking and destroying enemy cruise missiles and suicide drones.
The drills included testing of a new type of long-range precision glide-guided bomb and target attack drills, as well as training in destroying enemy drones by helicopters, precision bombing of naval targets and demonstration flights by strategic reconnaissance drones and multi-purpose drones, KCNA added.
Kim Jong-un praised the drills as "very useful", allowing pilots to gain experience in modern air combat methods. He also outlined directions for the development of air force weapon systems, air defense means, integrated detection and electronic warfare systems, and integrated anti-drone systems.
North Korean state media noted that the drills demonstrated the air defense capabilities of units of the 1st Guards Air Division.
Images released by state media showed a range of North Korea's latest air force hardware, such as MiG-29 and Su-25 aircraft, deployed in the drills.
Among the photos is what appears to be a new type of air-to-air missile, first displayed at an arms exhibition in 2021, being launched from a MiG-29 fighter jet.
"This is believed to be a localized version of the R-27 medium-to-long range air-to-air missile developed by the Russian Air Force to equip the MiG-29," said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, adding that Pyongyang may have received technological support from Moscow.
The latest drills come as Kim Jong-un has repeatedly stressed the importance of modernizing conventional weapons through a series of public visits to military units and weapons factories in recent months.
Accompanying Kim Jong-un was a group of party and military officials, including Ri Pyong-chol, general adviser on defense industry policy to the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party, and Kim Yong-hwan, president of the Academy of National Defense Science.
