Wheeled Anti-aircraft Gun "Cheonho" Joins Overseas Exercise for the First Time

Navy and Marine Corps Depart to Take Part in Cobra Gold Exercise

The Navy and Marine Corps will participate in the 2026 Cobra Gold exercise to be held in Thailand. Cobra Gold is an annual multinational combined exercise that Thailand and the United States have jointly hosted since 1982.

On the 10th, ahead of departure on the 12th, the Navy and Marine Corps Cobra Gold training task force loaded the Marine Corps' wheeled anti-aircraft gun Cheonho (K-30W) onto the navy landing ship Nojeokbong (LST-II, 4,900-ton class) at the Busan Naval Operations Base. Photo by the Navy

According to the Navy on February 12, this year's exercise will be held from the 23rd to March 6. This year, 10 countries, including Korea, Thailand, the United States, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, and Malaysia, will take part.

The training task force departing from the Navy's Busan Operations Base on the same day consists of about 390 Navy and Marine Corps personnel, the Navy landing ship Nojeokbong (LST-II, 4,900-ton class), five Korean Amphibious Assault Vehicles (KAAV), two self-propelled howitzers (K-55A1), and one Cheonho (K-30W) wheeled anti-aircraft gun.

The Cheonho will take part for the first time in a live-fire exercise held overseas since its introduction, showcasing the excellent performance of Korea's defense industry to the participating nations.

The Cheonho was developed to replace the 20 mm Vulcan anti-aircraft gun that our military has operated for a long time. Compared with the Vulcan, the larger caliber of the anti-aircraft gun provides much greater destructive power. While the Vulcan's effective anti-air range is less than 2 km, the Cheonho's range exceeds 3 km, an improvement of about 1.6 times. It can also fire up to 1,200 rounds per minute.

As befits its outstanding performance, it has high tactical utility. It can quickly intercept drones or low-flying aircraft that threaten friendly forces. In particular, when linked with the air base anti-aircraft fire control system, it receives real-time early warning against aerial threats to the base. Its tactical response capability has also been greatly enhanced, as it can use its own Electro-Optical Tracking System (EOTS) to automatically track targets day and night without restriction.

The training task force will participate in a combined staff exercise, combined space training, cyber defense training, and humanitarian civil affairs activities. During the field training exercise, it will conduct combined amphibious operations, combined maritime training, combined live-fire training, combined search training, combined engineer training, and combined special operations training.