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Each brigade is organized into six airborne infantry battalions with a total strength of 3,500. NKPA airborne forces would likely target enemy airfields, South Korean government buildings, and key roads and highways to prevent their sabotage. The Thirty-Eighth, Forty-Eighth and Fifty-Eighth Airborne Brigades operate much like the Eighty-Second Airborne Division, conducting strategic operations including airborne drops to seize critical terrain and infrastructure. Special Operations Command, coordinating the special forces of the Army, Army Air Force and Korean PeopleвЂ™s Navy.ДЄ further three brigades are special purpose airborne infantry.

The Light Infantry Training Guidance Bureau, part of the Korean PeopleвЂ™s Army, functions as a kind of analog to U.S. The country maintains twenty-five special-forces and special-purpose brigades, and five special-forces battalions, designed to undertake missions from frontline DMZ assault to parachute and assassination missions. In response, North Korea has upped the importance of its special forces. The rest of PyongyangвЂ™s armored corps are in a similar predicament, making them decidedly inferior to U.S. The countryвЂ™s conventional forces, facing a long slide after the end of the Cold War, have faced equipment obsolescence and supply shortages-for example, North Korea has very few tanks based on theВ 1970sВ Soviet T-72, and most are still derivatives of theВ 1960s-eraВ T-62. Then we can get out without being detected.For decades North Korea maintained an impressive all-arms force of everything from tanks to mechanized infantry, artillery, airborne forces and special forces. It is not necessary that we destroy the target, so it's good we can get in and get eyes on and then call for fire or have an aircraft take care of it. вЂњWe don't want to get decisively engaged. вЂњWe are a small element,вЂќ said the communications sergeant. When the capabilities of SOF and attack aviation are combined, it greatly enhances the ability of a commander to strike deep in enemy territory. The increased level of combat survivability is a mutual benefit for both aviation and SOF. We donвЂ™t have to have positive identification on the target, this means we are not designating for the missile that we fire, which minimizes the risk of us being seen or engaged by the enemy.вЂќ вЂњThe power of a remote shot is that we can fire and forget. вЂњThey were set in somewhere with positive identification and could laser the target,вЂќ said Lemmons.

During a real-world combat mission, the AH-64 Apache would launch a Hellfire missile at a high trajectory that would then be guided onto target by the SOF teamвЂ™s laser.

During the maneuver portion of an exercise such as CBR, the fires are notional. SOF is able to designate a target allowing the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter to launch a hellfire missile from a concealed location several kilometers away. Operating deep in enemy territory, Special Forces teams greatly enhance the ability of aviation assets to effectively engage targets with their weapon systems without being exposed to enemy fire. What SOF can do is get to places that a conventional force cannot.вЂќ вЂњAnyone with a device that can shoot coded laser energy can designate for us. Blake Lemmons, an AH-64 Apache pilot assigned to Alpha Company. вЂњIt was great to have a Special Forces team to work with on this mission which was a deep attack,вЂќ said 1st Lt. leveraged their strengths to destroy the target. On a mission during Combined Resolve where the objective was to destroy a truck carrying missile system components several kilometers behind enemy lines, the 19th SFG(A) Soldiers and 227th Avn. For CBR X, the 19th SFG(A) used the opportunity to validate and assess their commandвЂ™s ability to operate within a large conventional multinational force. and NATO combat brigades in Europe the opportunity to train within a joint, multinational environment.

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Army Europe-led exercise series that is designed to give U.S.

Their forward observers can only push out so far from friendly lines, and we are able to go in as far as the commander needs us to.вЂќД¬ombined Resolve is a bi-annual U.S. вЂњWe can take the conventional forces mission further and deeper. вЂњSomething that SOF elements are experts at is doing deep reconnaissance,вЂќ said a senior communications sergeant assigned to 19th SFG(A). The ability to operate far from friendly lines is a core capability for special operation forces. Army Green Berets assigned to 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and attack aviation helicopters assigned to the 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division conducted missions to engage targets deep in enemy territory during exercise Combined Resolve X here.

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