Navy and Marine Corps Conduct Amphibious Landing Exercise, Breaking Through Enemy Beachhead

Decisive Action Conducted During Joint Amphibious Landing Exercise in Pohang

The Navy and Marine Corps announced on the 27th that they have been conducting the first half of the 2026 joint amphibious landing exercise in the Pohang area of Gyeongbuk Province from the 23rd to the 30th. On this day, they carried out the "decisive action," the highlight of the joint amphibious operation, on the coast of Dokseok-ri. The decisive action is a core element of the amphibious operation, where the Marine Corps landing forces secure a beachhead with the support of naval gunfire and air power, then prepare to transition to ground operations.

The Navy and Marine Corps have been conducting the joint amphibious landing exercise for the first half of 2026 around Pohang, Gyeongbuk, from the 23rd to the 30th. Photo by Marine Corps

For the first time, a platoon from the New Zealand Army was assigned to the landing battalion and conducted maritime assault and ground operations alongside the Korean forces. The New Zealand service members spent about two weeks prior to the decisive action participating in urban operations, live-fire training, and embarkation and disembarkation exercises with the Korean Amphibious Assault Vehicle (KAAV), building tactical rapport.

Kim Hyungil, Marine Corps Colonel and landing forces commander, stated, "The joint amphibious landing exercise is an important opportunity to strengthen the perfect teamwork between the Navy and Marine Corps, as well as the interoperability of supporting operational units."

Lieutenant Chemeli of the New Zealand military commented, "This exercise with the Republic of Korea Marine Corps was realistic and intense, serving as an opportunity to not only enhance interoperability between our two countries, but also to further develop the capabilities of the New Zealand military."

The Navy and Marine Corps have been conducting the joint amphibious landing exercise for the first half of 2026 in the Pohang area of Gyeongbuk from the 23rd to the 30th. Photo by the Marine Corps

The Navy and Marine Corps have been conducting the first half of the 2026 joint landing exercise in the Pohang area of Gyeongbuk since the 23rd until the 30th. Photo by Marine Corps

This joint amphibious landing exercise is being conducted at the brigade level, with more than 3,200 joint forces from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps participating. The exercise involves over 20 vessels including the large transport ship Marado (LPH), Korean Amphibious Assault Vehicles (KAAVs), amphibious maneuver helicopters (MUH-1), maritime patrol aircraft (P-8A), Air Force fighter jets (KF-16), attack helicopters (AH-64E), as well as various manned and unmanned joint assets including drones from the Drone Operations Command.

The joint amphibious landing exercise is a high-level teamwork training that proceeds in the following order: operational planning, loading of landing force equipment and personnel, rehearsals to master operational procedures, movement to the objective area, and finally, the decisive action in which the landing force carries out a maritime and airborne assault.

This year, in particular, the exercise integrated a variety of joint manned and unmanned assets in response to changes in modern warfare and actively utilized reconnaissance resources to achieve amphibious beach reconnaissance and battlefield visualization for ground operations. In addition, a team from the U.S. Navy 7th Fleet's Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures (ExMCM) unit participated in mine countermeasure operations, enhancing combined mine warfare capabilities.

For the first time, the landing reconnaissance unit mission—where special forces secretly infiltrate the target coast for reconnaissance and obstacle removal—used FPV (First Person View) drones to collect information in real time, thereby verifying their drone operation capabilities.

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