[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] The Largest Ever Firepower Exercise

Ministry of National Defense to Recruit Over 1,500 Public Observers by the 15th
Five Sessions Scheduled on the 25th of This Month and the 2nd, 7th, 12th, and 15th of Next Month

An opportunity to witness the largest-ever live-fire annihilation exercise is opening in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Korea-US alliance and the 75th anniversary of the founding of the armed forces. The live-fire annihilation exercise is a type of firepower demonstration where combined Korea-US forces and joint land, sea, and air forces showcase their retaliation and annihilation capabilities using the latest weapons in response to enemy provocations.

Our military's integrated firepower annihilation exercise, conducted in response to North Korea's strike demonstration, will also be showcased on the 26th.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 12th, about 1,500 citizens will be recruited to observe the ‘Combined Joint Live-Fire Annihilation Exercise’ through the Naver link (naver.me/5wHIyGPU) until the 15th. The exercise will be held five times in total at the Seungjin Training Ground in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, on the 25th of this month and on the 2nd, 7th, 12th, and 15th of next month, with approximately 300 observers per session.

First held in June 1977, the exercise has been conducted 11 times to date. The 2015 exercise was presided over by then-President Park Geun-hye, and the 2017 exercise was overseen by Hwang Kyo-ahn, then Acting President and Prime Minister. The 2017 exercise involved about 2,000 personnel from 48 Korea-US units, including South Korean Apache helicopters, K2 tanks, K21 armored vehicles, F-15K fighter jets, multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), as well as US Forces Korea’s Bradley armored vehicles, Apache helicopters, and A-10 attack aircraft.

Korea and the US conduct realistic response operations based on North Korea’s provocation scenarios, addressing asymmetric threats and wartime situations. Notably, advanced weapon systems such as manned-unmanned combined systems, which the military is focusing on acquiring, are expected to make a significant appearance. Additionally, F-35A stealth fighters, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, K-2 tanks, K-21 armored vehicles, Cheonmu multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), and US Forces Korea’s M-2 Bradley series armored vehicles are known to be deployed.

This exercise consists of a pre-event including video viewing, demonstrations of swarm drones and high-altitude parachuting, the core live-fire and live-maneuver training in parts 1 and 2, and an equipment exhibition where participants can directly handle and see the country’s main defense industry equipment and new advanced forces.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.