Multinational Mine Warfare Exercise Starting Today

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] A multinational mine warfare exercise hosted by our Navy will be conducted in the waters near Pohang, Gyeongbuk. This exercise, involving 10 countries including the United States and the United Kingdom, is scheduled to take place this year.

According to the Navy on the 4th, the exercise will run from today until the 12th, aiming to strengthen the joint mine warfare capabilities among multinational navies and to familiarize with the mine warfare environment within the Korean Peninsula theater of operations under the United Nations Command Security Support (UNCSS).

The multinational mine warfare exercise, hosted by the Republic of Korea Navy, began in 2016 and this year marks its 7th iteration. Last year, five countries participated. The Navy disclosed the exercise details to the media only for the first two sessions but conducted it privately from 2018 through last year.

This year, naval vessels (manned) and aircraft from the Korean, U.S., and U.K. navies are participating. The Republic of Korea Navy has deployed eight ships including the mine-laying ship Nampo (MLS-II, 3,000 tons) and the mine-hunting and sweeping ship Namhae (MSH, 700 tons), as well as aircraft such as the P-3 maritime patrol aircraft and UH-60 maritime maneuver helicopters. The U.S. Navy has dispatched mine countermeasure ships Patriot and Pioneer (1,400 tons) and the MH-53E mine-hunting helicopter, while the U.K. Navy has sent the ocean patrol ship Tamar (2,000 tons).

Notably, this year unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) from the United States and New Zealand were also deployed. The Navy, which plans to operate unmanned systems such as autonomous underwater mine detection vehicles (AUVs) in the future, aims to acquire operational know-how from unmanned underwater vehicle-operating countries through this multinational mine warfare exercise and to develop tactical utilization methods related to unmanned system operations. Navies from seven countries including New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Singapore, Italy, and T?rkiye have sent personnel such as explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams and joint staff members to participate in this exercise.

During the exercise, participating countries will conduct realistic training including laying exercise mines, mine detection and removal using unmanned mine disposal vehicles, mine-hunting ships, and mine-hunting helicopters, as well as underwater mine detonation by joint explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams. After the exercise concludes, on the 13th, a mine warfare symposium hosted by the Commander of the United States Naval Forces Korea (CNFK) will be held at the Navy’s Busan Operational Base. This year’s symposium will include over 60 mine warfare officials from 12 countries, including those participating in the multinational mine warfare exercise as well as Colombia and Japan.