◦ The Republic of Korea Navy and Marine Corps Cobra Gold Training Squadron (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Training Squadron’) will depart from Busan Operating Base on February 14 to participate in the multinational joint exercise ‘2024 Cobra Gold Exercise’.
◦ The training squadron consisted of more than 330 Navy and Marine Corps personnel (140 Navy and 180 Marines), a bandit seal ship (LST-II, 4,900 tons), 6 amphibious assault vehicles (KAAVs), two K-55 self-propelled howitzers, and one K-77 fire command vehicle.
◦ The Cobra Gold Joint Exercise is a regular humanitarian and peaceful exercise hosted by Thailand and the United States, and has been held every year since 1982. The multinational forces participating in the exercise have mastered the process of stabilizing disputes between virtual states, and the ROK military observed the exercises from 2002 to 2009 and has been participating in them officially since 2010.
◦ This year’s drill will be held from February 26th to March 8th in 11 regions including Sattahip, Hatyao, and Pattaya in Thailand, and 7 countries including Korea, the United States, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Japan will participate.
* China and India will participate in the humanitarian assistance exercise.
◦ The training squadron participates in △ field maneuver training △ command post practice △ humanitarian civil activities △ cyber defense training.
◦ Conduct amphibious training, naval training, special warfare training, and underwater construction training as outdoor maneuver training.
◦ The training squadron, together with the United States and Thailand, will conduct a combined amphibious exercise, including a decisive action, off the coast of Hat Yao from February 28 to March 1, and a combined naval exercise off the coast of Sattahip on the afternoon of March 1.
◦ In special warfare training, tactical shooting, small-unit tactics, jungle operations, and sea infiltration are conducted, and in search training, jungle survival training and underwater infiltration training are conducted.
◦ In addition, in the underwater construction training, multinational underwater construction personnel conduct underwater demolition drills and underwater obstacle removal drills using underwater unmanned exploration aircraft (ROVs) at the integrated diving training center.
◦ The Combined Staff Command Post Exercise will be held at U-Tapao with an emphasis on improving the operational planning and mission performance capabilities of multinational forces under comprehensive security threats. The Joint Chiefs of Staff will master the procedures for planning military operations and relief operations in the event of a conflict between hypothetical countries.
◦ Humanitarian civil activities are conducted as damage recovery drills that assume a disaster situation. The training squadron will use construction materials brought from South Korea to build a new school building in Lopburi area with the multinational force.
◦ The training squadron cyber team, composed of cyber experts from the Navy and Marine Corps, will master the procedures for performing cyber defense operations with the participating countries in U-Tapao. In particular, personnel from the Navy’s Cyber Operations Center will participate in the exercise remotely in Korea to master cyber operation procedures to track and defend against cyber attacks without space limitations.
◦ In addition, the training squadron also conducts military diplomacy and defense industry promotion activities. Navy and Marine Corps personnel will visit the memorial of the Royal Thai Navy’s Prasae, a ship that participated in the June 25 War, and visit the memorial to lay a wreath. In addition, it plans to promote the excellence of the Korean defense industry by introducing Navy and Marine Corps equipment to foreign military visiting the bandits.
◦ Kim Kyung-ho (Navy Colonel), Commander of the Training Squadron, said, “Exercise Cobra Gold is a good opportunity to improve the ability to conduct combined operations of multinational forces and overseas civil affairs operations, and to promote military cooperation among the participating countries,” and expressed his determination that “the ROK Navy and Marine Corps will continue to develop their combat performance capabilities so that they can develop combined amphibious operation capabilities that can respond to any operational environment as a team and further contribute to the maintenance of world peace.” The end//