Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Independent assault-based river crossing in an emergency situation scenario

Building confidence on difficult terrain, while gaining mastery of offensive operations

Since August 29th, the 11th Division of the Army has been conducting large-scale river crossing exercises in the Hongcheon River area of Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon Province. Through this training, the mechanized units have improved their ability to carry out their missions.

The training, which will be continued until the first of September, is designed to build confidence in assault river crossing by instructing the soldiers to perform river crossing exercises on the actual terrain and to master river crossing procedures for offensive operations in tactical situations.

Significantly, this exercise was not a normal river crossing operation after the installation of a raft or a floating bridge, but was a self-propelled assault river crossing based on an emergency situation scenario.
About 600 units of soldiers and 170 units of K21 and K200A1 armored vehicles participated in the training to confirm the river crossing capacity of each unit, and was able to improve the assault river crossing ability of the mechanized units, making for a successful defense training.

The training began with a reconnaissance scout arriving across the river.

The commander who received the status report of the reconnaissance team determined that there were no restrictions on the operation, and when he ordered the K200A1 armored car to engage in an assault river crossing, it ran quickly to the river and succeeded in a river crossing. Inspired by the successful completion of the lead, the K281 81mm Mortar Armored Vehicle, K288 Rescue Armored Vehicle followed with its own river crossing, as smoothly as flowing water.

In the training, various crawler equipment ranging from the K277 command armored vehicle to the K532 multi-purpose tactical vehicle successfully completed the river crossing task and maneuvered quickly toward the goal.

"The river crossing training was a good opportunity for the soldiers to build a practical battle sense and gain confidence," said Seung-woo Jung (lieutenant colonel), the battalion commander. "We will continue to repeatedly engage in practical training based on various situations, to build our mastery and readiness. "

By Seok-Jong, Lee < seokjong@dema.mil.kr >

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