South Korea and the United States are launching the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) major joint military exercise to strengthen their joint defense readiness and ability to counter “threats from the DPRK.” As previously reported by Yonhap with reference to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the UFS exercise will take place on August 19-29, and will include major command and staff exercises based on computer simulations, field training and civil defense exercises, UNN reports .
Details
The exercises are based on a full-scale war scenario using various means, including land, sea, air, cyber and space. The exercise is reported to further strengthen the capabilities and readiness of the South Korean-U.S. alliance to respond to any aggressive actions by the DPRK and to defend against weapons of mass destruction.
During this year's UFS, Allies will train to defeat threats in all domains, including threats from North Korean missiles, GPS signal jamming and cyber attacks. The exercises will also include lessons learned from recent military conflicts around the world.
The scale of the exercises will be similar to last year's, with about 19,000 South Korean troops participating. The exercises will include 48 field exercises, such as amphibious landings and live-fire drills, 10 more than last year. The number of brigade-level exercises will also increase from 4 last year to 17 this year.
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