The Army's Ground Operations Command said on the 23rd that it conducted a counterfire field training exercise (FTX) of the Combined Ground Component Command from the 19th through the 23rd, in conjunction with the 2026 Hoguk exercise.
The Ground Operations Command also serves as the Combined Ground Component Command, a combined South Korea-U.S. unit that commands and controls combined operations of South Korean and U.S. Forces Korea ground troops.
The command's task force, made up of intelligence and firepower units from both militaries, drilled position occupation and procedures by operational phase during the exercise, assuming an all-out war scenario on the Korean Peninsula. The task force also verified a chain of operational systems for acquiring and detecting targets through linked task force assets before striking them.
Combined surveillance and detection assets included South Korean and U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), counter-battery radars and deep-area operations teams. Combined joint strike assets mobilized for the drill included the Korean Tactical Surface-to-Surface Missile (KTSSM), K-9 self-propelled howitzers, Chunmoo multiple launch rocket systems and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS).
The task force also drilled response procedures for contingencies such as enemy attacks and communications network failures, and carried out training in building positions, resupplying ammunition and replacing gun barrels and engines to sustain the task force. About 4,100 South Korean and U.S. service members assigned to the command took part.
Separately, the Ground Operations Command said it also conducted an air defense guided weapons live-fire drill from the 19th through the 23rd at a training range in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, in conjunction with the Hoguk exercise.
The drill had South Korean military local air defense radars detect enemy drones in real time, with each unit firing surface-to-air guided weapons such as the Biho Complex and Shingung to strike the targets.