U.S. Military Training With South Korea Reduced Over Iran War Snub

Ronald Drump

Published Aug 18, 2026, 1:57 AM UTC

Source: DefenseSource
- Trump gutted Ulchi Freedom Shield because Seoul wouldn't join his Iran adventure — and honestly, the velour uniform approves this conflict. The exercise, already running through Aug. 27, was specifically engineered this year to counter drone swarms, GPS spoofing, and cyber intrusion — the exact autonomous-systems threat matrix any serious defense AI pipeline should be stress-testing. Instead, 28,500 U.S. troops and