Korea-US Live Fire Gunnery Exercise

By Jung Sung-ki, Shim Hyun-chul

Staff Reporters

South Korean and U.S. troops conducted a live fire exercise involving high-tech weapons systems May 22 at the U.S. Army's Rodriguez range in Pocheon, about 70 kilometers northeast of Seoul.

The one-day exercise, led by the Korean Army's aviation operations command, and an aviation brigade, infantry and mechanized units of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, was carried out to improve the two militaries' combat abilities against a possible attack from North Korea.

The joint drill involved six AH-1S Cobra attack helicopters of the Korean Army; eight AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters of U.S. Forces Korea; F-16 fighters and A-10 attack aircraft; four U.S. M1 tanks; and eight K9 155mm self-propelled howitzers.

``This exercise provides the two forces with an opportunity to upgrade their joint air and ground operations in the case of an emergency,'' Col. Soh Jung-shik, chief of the operations command's combat aircraft brigade, said.

The training was aimed at neutralizing imaginary enemy targets after closely monitoring their movements. Once detecting the location of enemy targets, infantry forces of South Korea and the United States began enemy air defense suppression operations with fire support from tanks. Subsequently, the up-to-date Apache attack helicopters and F-16 jets fired missiles on targets.

After that, M-1 tanks engaged enemy targets and tanks, while AH-1S combat helicopters fired missiles and rockets on enemy reinforcements.

The mission was completed after AH-1S helicopters exited the combat site under cover of U.S. fighter jets.