South Korean F-15K Slam Eagles and U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcons fly in formation prior to munitions training at Pilsung Range, South Korea, on Dec. 16, 2024. (Maria Umanzor Guzman/U.S. Air Force)

A pair of military exercises over South Korea emphasized air defense and ground support this week as 2024 nears its final days.

The country’s military branches trained Thursday afternoon to improve the nation’s air defense response to North Korean drone intrusions, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The joint exercise, announced Wednesday, involved a simulated attack by multiple drones over the East Sea, or Sea of Japan, and the Yellow Sea, and rear areas, according to a news release by the Joint Chiefs.

“This training will simulate responses to potential provocations involving multiple small North Korean drones infiltrating South Korean land and sea, including operating a large number of small drones as virtual enemy aircraft,” the release states.

Units of the South Korean army, navy and air force worked to detect, identify and simulate the downing of small drones, according to the Joint Chiefs.

“The military is doing its utmost to monitor and prepare for North Korea, while continuing to conduct practical trainings in preparation for enemy provocations,” the release states.

North and South Korea both launched programs to upgrade their drone programs last year, after North Korean drones breached the South’s airspace in December 2022, according to a Bloomberg News report in June 2023.

The flight of five North Korean drones into South Korea on Dec. 26, 2022, including one into the no-fly zone around the presidential office in Seoul, exposed the South’s lack of defensive capability, according to a classified U.S. intelligence assessment cited five months later by The Washington Post.

South Korea scrambled fighter jets and helicopters in response but failed to shoot down any of the intruding drones.

On Monday and Tuesday, U.S. and South Korean fighter aircraft teamed up for live-fire training at a range southeast of Seoul, according to 7th Air Force.

Two F-16 Fighting Falcons with the 80th Fighter Squadron at Kunsan Air Base dropped Mk-82 general purpose, freefall bombs on simulated targets at Pilsung Range. Two F-15K Slam Eagles in a separate drill dropped two GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMS, at the same range, according to information posted on the 7th Air Force website.

The 607th Air Support Operations Group took part in the close air support portion of the exercise as tactical air control specialists, according to 7th Air Force.

The allies last publicized a training exercise at Pilsung Range, about 100 miles southeast of Seoul, on Oct. 4, when two Air Force B-1 Lancers and two Slam Eagles flew close air support drills there.

On June 5, a Lancer and two Slam Eagles dropped 500-pound JDAMS at Pilsung, the first live-fire demonstration by a Lancer in South Korea in seven years.