Every operation South Korea’s naval aviation has flown
The arm’s war record is short and mostly small-scale. Its role in the Korean War rests on a single aircraft, and its Vietnam service is that of the Marine Corps aviation group it absorbed in 1973. The sinking of a North Korean infiltration boat in the East Sea on 13 August 1983 is given by the South Korean account; no North Korean statement on it was found. The Lynx actions off Somalia are given as Wikipedia records them. 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 a single Texan in the Korean War to the Lynx over the Samho Jewelry in 2011.
| Conflicto | Años | Contra | Avión principal | Salidas | Avión perdido | |
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| La guerra de CoreaLa guerra de liberación de la patria en Corea del NorteROK Navy aviation section (Jinhae) | 1950–1953 | Corea del Norte y la República Popular de China | T-6 Texan (Haechwiho) | |||
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An aviation section formed at Jinhae in April 1951 and flew a single rebuilt T-6, the Haechwiho, from August 1951. What missions it flew is not recorded in the sources reached. South Korea and the United Nations date the war to North Korea’s attack across the 38th parallel on 25 June 1950; North Korea’s official account says the South attacked first. The South Korean navy had no aircraft when the war began. Korean Wikipedia dates the navy’s aviation section to April 1951 at Jinhae and says the Haechwiho, a T-6 Texan rebuilt for naval duties, was commissioned that August as the first aircraft modified in Korea. Its war is otherwise undocumented in the sources reached. Resultado El armisticio del 27 de julio de 1953 puso fin a los combates sin un tratado de paz. The arm’s wartime role rests on Korean Wikipedia; no sortie record was found.
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| La guerra de VietnamMarine Corps aviation in VietnamRepublic of Korea Marine Corps aviation group (merged into the naval air arm in 1973) | 1965–1973 | Vietnam del Norte y el Viet Cong | L-19 Bird Dog, L-20 Beaver | |||
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Flew observation, leaflet-dropping and fire-support missions with light aircraft for the Korean marine formation. About 350,000 South Koreans served in Vietnam between September 1964 and March 1973. The Blue Dragon marine formation landed in October 1965 (some sources give early 1965). Its aviation, the marine air group formed in 1963 with L-19 and L-20 spotter aircraft, flew observation, leaflet and fire-support missions, according to Namuwiki; Korean Wikipedia calls the unit the first South Korean air unit deployed abroad. The marine aviation that came home was absorbed into the navy’s re-formed air unit on 1 May 1973, which is why Naval Air Command counts Vietnam in its own history. Resultado South Korean forces left Vietnam by March 1973; the marine aviation group was merged into the navy’s air unit the same year. The exact dates and size of the marine aviation detachment in Vietnam were not confirmed.
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| The sinking of a North Korean infiltration boatEast Sea, 13 August 1983ROK Navy air unit (destroyer Gangwon’s helicopter) | 1983 | Corea del Norte | Alouette III | 0 | ||
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An Alouette III from the destroyer Gangwon fired an AS-12 missile at a fast North Korean infiltration boat, which was sunk. By South Korea’s account as given on Namuwiki, the boat, disguised as a Japanese fishing vessel and capable of about 40 knots, was the mother ship of four agents who had landed near Wolseong on the Gyeongbuk coast on 5 August 1983. When it was found on 13 August it exchanged fire with the South Korean forces and was hit by an AS-12 fired from the Alouette III of the destroyer Gangwon, a Chungbuk-class ship. Namuwiki calls it the only confirmed combat kill by a South Korean navy or air force aircraft since the Korean War. Resultado The boat was sunk at about 11:40, by the South Korean account. The account is South Korea’s; no North Korean statement on the episode was found. The "only kill" claim is Namuwiki’s.
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| Counter-piracy off Somalia (Cheonghae Unit)Golfo de AdénROK Navy (ship-borne Lynx) | 2009–present | piratas somalíes | Lynx Mk.99 and Super Lynx Mk.99A | 0 | ||
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Lynx helicopters on the escorting destroyers protect merchant ships and deter pirate skiffs. The Cheonghae Unit was formed on 3 March 2009 and ROKS Munmu the Great sailed on 13 March 2009. Its destroyers carry Lynx helicopters; in May 2009 a Lynx was launched to protect the Korean merchant ship Dabaksol until the pirates attacking it fled, according to Wikipedia. The most important action came in January 2011 (see the next entry). Resultado Continuing; each rotation of about 300 people sails with a destroyer and its helicopter. Sortie and rotation totals after 2012 were not found in the sources reached.
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| Operation Dawn of Gulf of Adenthe Samho Jewelry rescueROK Navy (Lynx of ROKS Choe Yeong) | 2011 | piratas somalíes | Lince | 0 | ||
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The destroyer’s Lynx engaged a pirate skiff on 18 January and fired on the hijacked tanker during the boarding of 21 January. Pirates seized the chemical tanker Samho Jewelry on 15 January 2011. On 18 January the Lynx of ROKS Choe Yeong was sent after pirates in a motorboat heading for a Mongolian ship; all four were killed or went overboard, according to Wikipedia. A first boarding attempt that day was called off after three commandos were wounded. In the dawn assault of 21 January the helicopter fired on the tanker before the commandos went aboard. The crew of 21 — eight South Koreans, eleven Burmese and two Indonesians — was freed. Resultado All 21 crew rescued; eight pirates killed and five captured, per Wikipedia. Which shots killed which pirates is not established; figures are Wikipedia’s.
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Cada cifra, verificada
- Namuwiki: 슈퍼 링스12 Mk.99 delivered from 1990 and 13 Mk.99A in 1999–2000; dipping sonar; accidents near Chujado in April 2010, a ditching on 17 April 2010 traced to maintenance fraud, and the East Sea crash of 26 September 2016 with three crew lost; role in the Gulf of Aden.
- Namuwiki: 알루에트 III12 delivered 1977–1979 for the Chungbuk-class destroyers; front-line role ended as the Lynx arrived from 1991, training from 2007, retired December 2019; an AS-12 fired from the destroyer Gangwon’s Alouette sank a North Korean infiltration boat in the East Sea on 13 August 1983; three bodies recovered.
- Namuwiki: 해병대 항공단Marine aviation: observation unit 1958, aviation group March 1963 with L-19 and L-20; observation, leaflet and fire-support flying in Vietnam; transferred to the navy in 1973; Marine Corps Aviation Group re-formed at Pohang on 1 December 2021 with the MUH-1 Marineon; the 17 July 2018 crash with five killed.
Cifras verificadas el 1 de octubre de 2026. Back to the Republic of Korea Navy aviation (Naval Air Command).