US launches Freedom Edge 2026 with Japan and South Korea amid rising North Korean missile threats.

On September 7, 2026, Japan, South Korea, and the United States commenced the five-day Freedom Edge 2026 exercise in international waters east and south of Jeju Island. The fourth iteration of the multi-domain trilateral series deploys six surface combatants and land-based tactical aviation without a U.S. aircraft carrier for the second consecutive year. The operational shift emphasizes distributed air-and-missile defense integration, land-based tactical refueling, and real-time sensor-track sharing across heterogeneous command networks to counter evolving North Korean missile capabilities.

The Freedom Edge 2026 naval component features five Aegis-equipped or advanced destroyers, including ROKS Yulgok Yi I, ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong, JS Atago, JS Asahi, and USS Benfold, operating alongside Japanese and American airborne early warning, maritime patrol, and refueling platforms. Executed across maritime, air, and cyber domains, the five-day exercise benchmarks operational interoperability following North Korea's commissioning of the 5,000-ton guided-missile destroyer Kang Kon.

Related topic: Trump orders reduction of US-South Korea military exercises citing Kim Jong Un ties and Seoul refusal on Iran War

The Freedom Edge 2026 naval component features five destroyers, including South Korea's ROKS Yulgok Yi I and ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong, Japan's JS Atago and JS Asahi, and the American USS Benfold. (Picture source: US Navy)

On September 7, 2026, Japan, South Korea and the United States began the Freedom Edge 2026 exercise with six surface combatants and a mixed force of fighters, maritime patrol aircraft, AEW&C aircraft, helicopters and tankers, but no U.S. aircraft carrier for the second consecutive year. The five-day exercise runs through September 11 in international waters east and south of Jeju Island, with Japanese activities also west of Kyushu in the East China Sea, in associated airspace, bases and command posts. It is the fourth Freedom Edge in 27 months and brings the series to 16 exercise days: three days each in June and November 2024, then five days each in September 2025 and 2026. The two 2024 iterations included the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and USS George Washington (CVN-73) carriers; the two subsequent exercises have instead combined destroyers with predominantly land-based tactical aviation, AEW&C, and tankers.

Freedom Edge 2026 covers Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD), maritime missile defense, enhanced air defense, maritime interdiction, cyber defense, logistics, medical training, and real-time trilateral data sharing. The 2026 naval force totals six ships, with five identified at the time of writing: South Korea's Sejong the Great-class destroyers ROKS Yulgok Yi I (DDG-992) and ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong (DDG-993), Japan's Atago-class destroyer JS Atago (DDG-177) and Asahi-class destroyer JS Asahi (DD-119), and the U.S. Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Benfold (DDG-65), which arrived in Busan on September 3. Four of these five identified ships therefore carry the Aegis combat system, giving the force a substantial concentration of shipborne air and missile defense capabilities.

Japan additionally fields P-1 maritime patrol aircraft, SH-60K helicopters, F-15 and F-2 fighters, E-767 and E-2D AEW&C aircraft, and KC-46A and KC-767 tankers; U.S. F-16s and KC-135s are also participating. Japan contributes approximately 560 personnel from six organizations, including the Joint Staff, JSDF Joint Operations Command, JMSDF Self Defense Fleet, JASDF Air Defense Command, JASDF Air Support Command and Japan Cyber Defense Command. The sixth ship, combined personnel total, and aircraft quantities by type remain unspecified. Japan's force illustrates how the carrier's functions are being redistributed rather than simply removed. The Atago provides an Aegis air and missile defense node; the Asahi, P-1 and SH-60K cover surface and undersea surveillance; F-15 and F-2 fighters provide land-based tactical aviation; E-767 and E-2D aircraft provide airborne radar and battle management; and KC-46A and KC-767 tankers extend fighter endurance and operating radius.

Japan therefore contributes two ships and eight aircraft types spanning surface warfare, ASW, maritime patrol, fighter operations, AEW&C and aerial refueling, plus cyber and joint command personnel. This differs operationally from a carrier strike group because fighters, tankers and surveillance aircraft may originate from separate airfields while destroyers operate hundreds of kilometers away at sea. Real-time trilateral data sharing consequently becomes a practical requirement: tracks generated by an E-767, E-2D, P-1 or Aegis radar must be transferred between Japanese, South Korean and U.S. command networks rapidly enough to support identification, interception and missile defense decisions. The inaugural Freedom Edge on June 27-29, 2024 was considerably more concentrated at sea.

The carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt operated with the USS Halsey (DDG-97), USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-118) and USS Higgins (DDG-76) destroyers, giving the U.S. Navy four major ships, including three Aegis destroyers. Japan added JS Ise (DDH-182) and JS Atago, while South Korea deployed ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong and ROKS Kang Gam-chan (DDH-979), for at least eight named major ships versus six in 2026. U.S. aviation included F/A-18 fighters, E-2D aircraft, MH-60 helicopters, and P-8A maritime-patrol aircraft, supplemented by Japanese P-1s and South Korean P-3Ks and KF-16s. The difference is greater than eight ships versus six: the USS Theodore Roosevelt supplied an embarked air wing, aviation fuel, weapons, maintenance, flight-deck sortie generation, and command capacity inside the maritime formation, whereas the 2026 configuration must obtain much of that aviation support from shore bases and aerial refueling. 

Freedom Edge 24-2 on November 13-15, 2024 remains the numerical high point, with approximately 7,000 personnel, seven ships and more than 20 fighters, patrol aircraft and tankers. USS George Washington operated with USS Higgins, USS McCampbell (DDG-85) and USS Dewey (DDG-105); Japan contributed JS Haguro (DDG-180), and South Korea deployed ROKS Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin (DDH-975) and ROKS Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong. Carrier Air Wing 5 added F-35C, F/A-18E/F, and EA-18G aircraft, combining fifth-generation fighters, strike fighters, and dedicated electronic attack aboard one ship. U.S. P-8A and KC-135, Japanese P-3, F-15, F-2 and E-767, and South Korean P-3, F-35A and F-15K aircraft expanded the air component beyond the carrier.

The exercise focused on ballistic missile defense, air defense, ASW, anti-surface warfare, maritime interdiction, and defensive cyber operations, making it the clearest benchmark for measuring the smaller carrier-free maritime force in 2026. The transition became explicit during Freedom Edge 25 on September 15-19, 2025, when duration increased from three to five days but no carrier participated. The U.S. Navy deployed USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) and USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54); Japan fielded JS Hyuga (DDH-181), JS Haguro, and approximately 700 personnel; South Korea used ROKS Wang Geon (DDH-978), ROKS Yulgok Yi I and, in some serials, ROKS Daecheong (AOE-58). U.S. F-35As from the 355th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and KC-135s from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron replaced part of the embarked aviation mass, while Japan contributed P-1, SH-60K, F-15, E-767, KC-767 and KC-46A aircraft.

Training still covered ballistic missile defense, defensive counter-air, anti-surface warfare, maritime interdiction, VBSS, counter-piracy, medevac, replenishment at sea, cyber warfare and special operations. The 2026 iteration retains that five-day, carrier-free structure, while Japan's approximately 560 personnel represent 140 fewer than in 2025, a 20 percent reduction. Freedom Edge 2026 also opened one day after North Korea commissioned the approximately 5,000-ton destroyer Kang Kon at Wonsan on September 6, following the commissioning of sister ship Choe Hyon in June. The Kang Kon partially capsized during its May 2025 launch, was recovered and relaunched the following month, underwent repairs and sea trials, and completed weapons testing in July 2026, roughly 14 months after the launch accident.

North Korea subsequently tested cruise missiles from the ship and associates the new destroyer force with conventional and nuclear-capable missile missions, as the Kang Kon carries the same weapons suite as the Choe Hyon. Pyongyang is also building east coast naval infrastructure, creating additional naval units and pursuing further warship classes. This would add more missile-carrying surface ships to an IAMD problem already involving North Korean land-based ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft and submarines, increasing the relevance of combining Aegis radar tracks with P-1, AEW&C and fighter surveillance. This places greater weight on aerial refueling, distributed command-and-control and cross-national sensor-track sharing, but does not establish a permanent carrier-free model: U.S. Forces Japan commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost said on September 7 that it was "not safe to say" carrier absence had become the new normal.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.