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| Soldiers of the 11th group of the Republic of Korea Army's Hanbit unit, participating in United Nations peacekeeping operation missions in South Sudan, conduct a firearms exercise at a training field in South Korea's International Peace Supporting Standby Force base, Incheon, June 20, weeks before its dispatch to the African region. Courtesy of ROK Army |
By Jung Da-min
The Republic of Korea Army is accelerating the introduction of its "Warrior Platform" future combat system, which applies cutting-edge technology to combat equipment worn and carried by individual soldiers.
Among recent tests involving the Warrior Platform gear was firearms training for troops of the 11th group of the Army's Hanbit unit, operating on United Nations' peacekeeping missions in South Sudan, weeks before its dispatch to the African country. The training took place at the South Korea's International Peace Supporting Standby Force base in Incheon, June 20.
The soldiers in the 11th rotation of the Hanbit unit wore new bulletproof helmets and body armor, and had new improved telescopic sights on their rifles, part of the full set of 33 cutting edge items made up of 10 combat uniform attachments and 13 pieces of combat equipment.
This follows the Army's announcement earlier this year that it would provide the Warrior Platform equipment to units preparing for overseas dispatch as well as those already there.
The basic idea of the Warrior Platform is to equip soldiers with cutting edge equipment so that each soldier can serve as an independent combat platform.
According to the Army's roadmap to modernize equipment of all of its combat troops, the project of supplying the full Warrior Platform will be gradually implemented in three phases ― the first by 2023, the second by 2025 and the third by 2026.
In the first phase currently being conducted, an ergonomic bulletproof helmet, body armor, a pair of combat gloves, protectors, a pair of combat glasses, an identification of friend or foe radar (IR), a three liter-capacity camelback, a first-aid kit, a target designation sight (TDS), a rifle scope, a magnifying lens and others are to be provided to soldiers.
But the Army still needs to secure more funding. It so far has 130.3 billion won (about $110.5 million) for the next five years for the first phase, but this amount only covers 2,500 troops in each division, less than a quarter of the total ― about 12,000 troops.
Meanwhile, the Army is planning to reduce its number of troops by 118,000 from around 500,000 to 380,000, in line with the government's defense reform plan to reduce the size of the military― including personnel in the Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps ― to 500,000 from the current 618,000 by 2022 to counter the demographic cliff the country is facing .
The Army has been aiming to be "slimmer but smarter," by introducing cutting edge weaponry systems.
