Freedom Shield 25 successfully concludes

SOUTH KOREA

03.20.2025

Story by Eun Chong Kim 

U.S. Forces Korea

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CAMP HUMPHREYS, PYEONGTAEK, South Korea – The United States and the Republic of Korea today concluded Exercise Freedom Shield 25, enhancing combined readiness, strengthening the Alliance’s defense posture, and demonstrating the ability to deter and, if necessary, defeat any adversary.

Conducted from March 10-20, 2025, FS 25 featured multi-domain operations across land, sea, air, cyber, and space, reinforcing the Alliance’s ability to respond to evolving threats and security challenges. The exercise incorporated lessons learned from recent conflicts, realistic combat scenarios, and adversarial tactics, ensuring that ROK and U.S. forces remain fully prepared.

“Exercises like Freedom Shield 25 ensure that our forces remain ready to respond to any threat, reaffirming our shared commitment to regional security,” said Gen. Xavier Brunson, Commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and U.S. Forces Korea. “This year’s training tested our ability to execute combined, joint all domain operations under realistic conditions, further strengthening our interoperability and reinforcing deterrence against regional adversaries.”

The exercise featured a combination of live, virtual, and field-based training involving all military services and interagency partners. ROK and U.S. units integrated advanced technologies and cutting-edge warfighting capabilities, ensuring forces can operate seamlessly across all domains and under complex combat conditions.

Gen. Kang Shin-chul, Deputy Commander of CFC, emphasized, “Freedom Shield 25 was a significant opportunity to implement deterrence against DPRK with ironclad ROK-US Alliance and to contribute to sustain peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region.”

This year’s exercise included significant contributions from all components. Eighth Army, as the ground component of U.S. Forces Korea and Combined Forces Command, conducted extensive combined training across South Korea’s ranges and operations centers, enhancing interoperability and combat readiness. Field training events during FS 25 included urban combat operations, field hospital operations, mass casualty treatment and evacuation, field artillery exercises, air assault training, wet gap crossing, air defense artillery deployment and validation, and a joint assault exercise with the U.S. Marine Corps. Command and control training with the ROK Army ensured seamless coordination in combined operations. These combined, joint, all-domain exercises strengthened the Alliance’s defense posture and lethality.

Seventh Air Force and the ROK Air Force integrated air power to enhance realistic combat training at all levels. For the first time in a Freedom Shield exercise, U.S. Air Force, ROKAF, and U.S. Navy F-35s trained together. Additionally, four fighter squadrons forward deployed, projecting and sustaining airpower from multiple locations. With less than 25 percent of the combined fighter force, they successfully executed over 1,000 combat training sorties in a five-day live-fly exercise, incorporating air interdiction, close air support, static and dynamic targeting, and combat air patrol training. Throughout FS25, Seventh Air Force and ROKAF personnel trained side by side, refining communication and coordination procedures and further solidifying combined air component preparation.

Space Forces – Korea, in coordination with the ROKAF Space Operations Group and multiple joint and international partners, validated its ability to execute space effects in support of Korean theater operations. The unit more than doubled its presence on the Korean Peninsula, exercised its ability to receive and integrate follow-on forces, and established its first Combined Joint Space Operations Center, significantly improving Space Domain Awareness for the Combined Forces Component Commander.

During FS 25, active-duty and reserve Sailors from U.S. 7th Fleet (C7F), U.S. Naval Forces Korea (CNFK), and the Republic of Korea Fleet (CRF) collaborated to enhance combined maritime operations and strengthen the ROK-U.S. Alliance. The exercise featured live, virtual, and field-based training, focusing on combined, joint, all-domain operations and leveraging deployed at-sea assets to reinforce Alliance response capabilities. Carrier Strike Group 1 (CSG 1) participated, sending a U.S. Navy F-35C from the “Warhawks” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 97 to conduct air integration training with two ROK Air Force F-35As and two U.S. Air Force F-35As.

Units from III Marine Expeditionary Force and 1st Marine Division integrated with the ROK Marine Corps to form a Combined Marine Corps Component. Their high-intensity training focused on improving combined command and control, air assault operations, amphibious readiness, and joint mission execution. This training reaffirmed the interoperability, strength, and enduring relationship between the ROK and U.S. Marine Corps.

Additionally, the combined commands exercised the lethality and effectiveness of special operations forces in both command post and field environments. U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Air Force Special Operations Command, and Naval Special Warfare Command personnel trained alongside ROK Special Operations Forces (SOF), conducting military freefall and static line jumps, special reconnaissance, counter-WMD training, staff planning, and direct-action missions. These efforts enhanced the lethality of joint and combined forces in the deep fight, improving target acquisition and time-sensitive engagement.

The capstone event for the Combined Special Operations Component Command centered around a complex, multi-day scenario integrating tactical and operational elements. Special reconnaissance teams secured technically challenging targets at a ROK training installation east of Seoul before receiving a dynamic tasking to a simulated time-sensitive target on Paengnyŏng-Do. The team rapidly planned and executed the mission, infiltrating, completing their objectives, and exfiltrating, while coordinating with Seventh Air Force, Eighth Army, the 353rd Special Operations Wing, ROK SOF, rotary wing counterparts, and additional partners.

12 UNC Member States contributed personnel to FS25, reinforcing multinational cooperation in maintaining regional stability. Additionally, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission observed parts of the exercise.

FS 25 underscores the enduring military partnership between the ROK and the U.S. and is implemented in the spirit of the Oct. 1, 1953, ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty and in support of the Armistice Agreement. It reinforces the Alliance’s role as a cornerstone for regional peace and security, reaffirming the ironclad commitment between the U.S. and ROK to defend their homelands.

For imagery and content on FS 25, please visit the Freedom Shield 25 DVIDS Page: https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/FreedomShield or the USFK Freedom Shield Exercise Page: https://www.usfk.mil/What-We-Do/Exercises/Freedom-Shield/