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 joint amphibious landing exercise for the first half of 2026 in the Pohang area of Gyeongbuk from the 23rd to the 30th. On this day, in particular, they carried out the "decisive action," which is the highlight of the joint amphibious operation, at the Doksok-ri coast. The decisive action is the core of the amphibious landing operation, where Marine Corps landing forces secure the beachhead with support from naval ship artillery and aviation assets, and 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 for this exercise, conducting both sea assaults and ground operations together with the Korean military. The New Zealand soldiers built tactical consensus by participating in approximately two weeks of training before the decisive action, including urban operations, combat shooting, and embarkation and disembarkation drills using the Korean Amphibious Assault Vehicle (KAAV).

Kim Hyun-gil, Marine Corps Colonel and landing force commander, said, "The joint amphibious landing exercise is an important opportunity to strengthen the perfect teamwork between the Navy and Marine Corps and the jointness of supporting operational units."

New Zealand Army Lieutenant Chemley stated, "This exercise with the Republic of Korea Marine Corps was realistic and intensive, and it became an opportunity not only to enhance the interoperability between the two countries, but also to further develop the capabilities of the New Zealand Army."

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 approximately 3,200 personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps joint forces participating. Around 20 naval vessels including the large transport ship Marado (LPH), Korean Amphibious Assault Vehicles (KAAV), amphibious maneuver helicopters (MUH-1), maritime patrol aircraft (P-8A), Air Force fighter jets (KF-16), attack helicopters (AH-64E), and various manned and unmanned joint assets such as drones from the Drone Operations Command are also taking part.

The joint amphibious landing exercise follows a sequence of steps: operational planning, loading of equipment and troops onto the landing force, rehearsal to master operational procedures, movement to the target area, and then the decisive action in which the landing force conducts sea and air assaults. This requires a high degree of teamwork.

This time, in particular, reflecting the changes in modern warfare, a variety of joint manned and unmanned assets were operated in an integrated manner, and reconnaissance assets were actively utilized to achieve amphibious beach reconnaissance and visualization of the ground battlefield. 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, during the landing reconnaissance unit's mission, in which special forces covertly infiltrate the target coast to conduct reconnaissance and remove obstacles, an FPV (First Person View) drone was used to collect real-time information, thereby verifying drone operation capabilities.

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