Participation of Brigade-Level Troops in Cobra Gold Exercise After 5 Years

Over 420 Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Depart Aboard Sunrise Peak Ship

The Navy announced that the 'Cobra Gold Training Squadron' will set sail from Jinhae Naval Base on the 15th to participate in the 2023 Cobra Gold multinational joint exercise. The Cobra Gold joint exercise is a humanitarian and peaceful regular training designed to practice the process of stabilization by a multinational force authorized by the United Nations, deployed to a fictional area where armed conflict has occurred. The photo shows the sailing of the Ilchulbong ship participating in the Cobra Gold exercise. (Photo by the Navy)

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The Navy and Marine Corps will participate in the ‘Cobra Gold’ exercise this year with battalion-level or larger forces. This is the first time in five years that the scale of participation has increased to battalion level or above.

On the 15th, the Navy announced, “The ‘Cobra Gold Training Squadron’ departed from Jinhae Naval Base today to participate in the 2023 Cobra Gold multinational joint exercise.”

Cobra Gold is a multinational joint exercise that began in 1982. It is one of the oldest multinational military exercises in the world and is considered the largest in Southeast Asia. This year, it is scheduled to take place locally in Thailand from the 28th of this month to the 10th of next month. South Korea has participated as an observer since 2002 and has been a formal participant since 2010. The participating countries include seven nations: the host countries, the United States and Thailand, as well as South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

Our military will dispatch about 420 personnel (approximately 170 from the Navy and 250 from the Marine Corps) for this exercise. Additionally, the Navy will send the 4,900-ton landing ship ‘Ilchulbong’ (LST-II), six KAAV amphibious armored vehicles from the Marine Corps, two K55 self-propelled howitzers, and two K808 wheeled armored vehicles.

This year’s exercise will include amphibious operations and live-fire drills, special operations by the Navy’s Special Warfare Group (UDT/SEAL), combined arms cooperation and joint jungle reconnaissance among the marine forces of each country through field training exercises (FTX), and computer simulation-based command post exercises (CPX).

In 2020 and 2022, the exercises were conducted on a small scale due to COVID-19. Our military dispatched 14 personnel in 2021 and 31 in 2022. The United States is also expected to send a large number of troops this year. The majority of personnel will be from the U.S. with 3,800 troops and Thailand with 3,000 troops, while South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia will also send some forces.

This year’s exercise is particularly noteworthy as it comes amid Thailand’s strengthening military cooperation with China. After current Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, then Army Chief of Staff, seized power in a coup in 2014, the U.S. refused arms sales and distanced itself from the Thai regime. In response, Thailand imported Chinese weapons consecutively, showing a pro-China stance. In August last year, Thailand even conducted joint air force exercises with China.

However, in June last year, the U.S. and Thailand agreed to resume large-scale Cobra Gold exercises starting this year. Since then, Thailand has engaged in balancing diplomacy for its national interests between the two countries, including exploring the purchase of the U.S.’s cutting-edge stealth fighter F-35.