Every war the Republic of Korea Air Force has fought
The Korean War ended with the armistice of 27 July 1953, not a peace treaty. Since then the air force has flown support missions abroad, from Vietnam to Kabul and Sudan, and scrambled at home against North Korean shelling in 2010 and drones in 2022. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Mustangs of July 1950 to North Korean drones over the border in 2022.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| The Korean Warthe Fatherland Liberation War in North KoreaRepublic of Korea Air Force | 1950–1953 | North Korea and People’s Republic of China | F-51D Mustang, L-4 and other liaison aircraft | |||
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Began the war without combat aircraft; from July 1950 flew F-51D Mustangs in close support and interdiction, first with American instructors under Project Bout One and from 1952 as an autonomous force. Mainstream histories date the war to North Korea’s crossing of the 38th parallel on 25 June 1950; North Korea’s official account, which calls it the Fatherland Liberation War, says South Korean troops attacked first. The ROKAF then had about 1,800 people and some 20 training and liaison aircraft, and no fighters. In the first days of July ten F-51D Mustangs were handed over by the US Far East Air Forces with a small team of American instructors under Major Dean Hess — Project Bout One. Colonel Lee Keun-seok led the first combat sortie on 3 July and was killed the next day when he failed to pull out of a low dive over Anyang, according to Korean Wikipedia. Hess, working from Taegu and Chinhae, flew some 250 missions himself. By January 1952 the Korean force was autonomous from the USAF, according to HistoryNet. One episode is still told: in September 1951, ordered to bomb Haeinsa temple during an anti-guerrilla campaign, Colonel Kim Young-hwan led his aircraft over it without releasing, sparing the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks; the government decorated him posthumously in 2010. South Korea counts 137,899 military dead in the war as a whole, per Wikipedia’s casualty table. Outcome The armistice of 27 July 1953 ended the fighting without a peace treaty. The ROKAF finished the war with about 110 aircraft, including 79 fighter-bombers, three fighter squadrons and one fighter wing. ROKAF sortie totals, aircraft losses and aircrew deaths were not confirmed on any source reached, and are left out. The Seungho-ri railway bridge attack often cited in Korean accounts was not corroborated and is left out.
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| The Vietnam Warthe Eunma (Silver Horse) unitRepublic of Korea Air Force | 1966–1973 | North Vietnam and Viet Cong | C-46 Commando | |||
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Flew transport missions for the Korean forces in South Vietnam with C-46 Commandos. South Korea sent about 320,000 military personnel to Vietnam between 1964 and 1973, according to Wikipedia; its peak strength was about 50,000 and it lost 5,099 killed. The air force’s part was small: an air force support group known as Silver Horse (Eunma), founded in 1966 to operate Curtiss C-46 Commando transports for the Korean divisions. No deployment of Korean combat aircraft is recorded in the sources consulted. Outcome Withdrawn with the other Korean forces by 1973. The Eunma unit’s aircraft numbers, base, sorties and exact dates were not confirmed in the sources reached; the end date given here is that of the Korean withdrawal as a whole. |
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| The Gulf Warthe Bima unitRepublic of Korea Air Force | 1991 | Iraq | C-130H Hercules | 0 | ||
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An air force detachment known as the Bima unit supported the coalition alongside a Korean medical group. Wikipedia’s coalition article gives a South Korean contingent of 777 people, mainly medical and logistics personnel, in theatre from 24 January to 10 April 1991. The ROKAF article says an air force unit, the Bima, was formed for the war. It was a support contribution; Korean combat aircraft did not fly over Iraq or Kuwait. Outcome The Korean contingent was in theatre from 24 January to 10 April 1991. Aircraft type and number are not given in the sources reached; C-130H is listed as the ROKAF’s transport of the time and is unconfirmed for this deployment. Wikipedia’s ROKAF article describes the Bima unit as formed "to fight in the war", which overstates a support mission. |
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| The bombardment of YeonpyeongYeonpyeong IslandRepublic of Korea Air Force | 2010 | North Korea | KF-16, F-15K | 0 | ||
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Scrambled KF-16s and F-15Ks after North Korean artillery shelled the island; they did not attack. On 23 November 2010 North Korean artillery shelled Yeonpyeong Island. South Korea called it a clear armed provocation against a routine firing drill aimed southward; North Korea said South Korean shells had fallen into waters it considers its own and warned of further action. South Korean KF-16s and F-15Ks were scrambled around 14:38–14:40 but, according to Wikipedia’s account, did not engage because no third North Korean barrage followed. Outcome The shelling stopped; the aircraft were held in reserve. Casualty figures are South Korea’s; North Korea’s account differs. Accounts of the exact rules of engagement given to the pilots were not confirmed.
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| Operation Miraclethe Kabul evacuationRepublic of Korea Air Force | 2021 | C-130J Hercules, KC-330 Cygnus | 0 | |||
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Evacuated Afghan staff who had worked for South Korea, with their families. As Kabul fell in August 2021, three ROKAF C-130Js and a KC-330 flew Afghans who had worked with South Korea in Afghanistan, and their families, out of Kabul between 24 and 27 August 2021, via Qatar, where South Korea had set up a temporary embassy. Korean press reported 390 arrivals by 27 August. Outcome 390 Afghans reached South Korea. Korea Bizwire reported 378 arrivals on 26 August, before the last group landed.
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| The North Korean drone incursionSeoul and GimpoRepublic of Korea Air Force | 2022 | North Korea | KA-1, Fighters | 1 | ||
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Scrambled fighters and a KA-1 against five small North Korean drones; none was shot down. On 26 December 2022 five North Korean drones, each about two metres long, crossed the border, the first incursion in five years; one reached Seoul. The military scrambled fighter jets and attack helicopters and sent its own reconnaissance drones across the demarcation line, but civilian safety constrained firing and none of the North Korean drones was brought down. A KA-1 crashed on take-off in Gangwon Province; the crew escaped. President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered a dedicated drone unit. North Korea made no public statement on the incursion in the report consulted. Outcome The drones flew for about five hours and left; one had entered the no-fly zone around the presidential office, which the military first denied and admitted on 5 January 2023. The number of rounds fired and the aircraft types scrambled were not confirmed.
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| The Sudan evacuationPort Sudan to JeddahRepublic of Korea Air Force | 2023 | C-130 Hercules, KC-330 Cygnus | 0 | |||
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Evacuated Korean nationals from Port Sudan to Jeddah and home. When fighting broke out in Sudan in April 2023, a ROKAF C-130 moved 28 South Koreans, and some Japanese nationals, from Port Sudan to Jeddah, and a KC-330 flew most of them on to Seoul, arriving on 25 April 2023. Outcome 28 South Koreans were brought home on 25 April 2023, with a number of Japanese nationals also carried. The C-130 variant used was not confirmed.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- Stars and Stripes: South Korea responds in force to North Korean drone intrusion near Seoul (26 December 2022)Five drones from 10:25; fighters and helicopters scrambled; KA-1 crash; JCS statement.
- Stars and Stripes: North Korean drone entered no-fly zone near Seoul’s presidential office (5 January 2023)JCS reversed its denial; about five hours over the South; none shot down.
- HistoryNet: Dean Hess: The Flying ParsonBout One: ten F-51Ds; Taegu from 4 July 1950; seven of ten US volunteers killed in the first year; ROKAF autonomous by January 1952; Hess flew 250 missions.
Figures verified 2026-09-30. Back to the Republic of Korea Air Force.