Australian Army flexed its firepower muscle at Exercise CHONG JU

Army flexed its fire­pow­er mus­cle at Exer­cise CHONG JU at the Puck­a­pun­yal Mil­i­tary Range over the peri­od 9 and 10 May 2012.

Two M1A1 Abrams Tank fire dur­ing the Chong Ju Fire Pow­er Demon­stra­tion at Puck­a­pun­yal Range Source: Aus­tralian Depart­ment of Defence Click to enlarge

A Javelin team dis­mount from a Aus­tralian Light Armoured Vehi­cle dur­ing Exer­cise CHONG JU Fire Pow­er Demon­stra­tion at Puck­a­pun­yal Range, 2012. Source: Aus­tralian Depart­ment of Defence

Exer­cise CHONG JU demon­strates some of the newest equip­ment used on oper­a­tions today by Australia’s Army and is a key com­po­nent of the Army’s Com­bat Officer’s Advanced Course. 

This course pro­vides Army offi­cers with essen­tial tac­ti­cal and tech­ni­cal train­ing in the employ­ment of weapons and sup­port systems. 

Exer­cise CHONG JU demon­stra­tions includ­ed armour, artillery, engi­neer and infantry ele­ments. The exer­cise allows the next gen­er­a­tion of the Army’s lead­ers to wit­ness and coor­di­nat­ed employ­ment of these weapon sys­tems and the prac­ti­cal aspects of coor­di­nat­ing attack. 

The live capa­bil­i­ty show­cased includ­ed, M1A1 Abrams Tanks; Aus­tralian Light Armoured Vehi­cles; Bush­mas­ter; 155mm M777A2 How­itzer gun, fir­ing of the Javelin Anti-Armour Mis­sile and infantry skills. 

Colonel Sean Ryan, the Com­man­dant of the Army’s Com­bined Arms Train­ing Cen­tre, said “Exer­cise CHONG JU is essen­tial for train­ing the Army’s next gen­er­a­tion of com­man­ders. The exer­cise is an oppor­tu­ni­ty for young offi­cers and sol­diers’ aware­ness to see first hand how all the ADF sys­tems work in uni­son, in a poten­tial oper­a­tional scenario.” 

Colonel Ryan also thanked local res­i­dents for their ongo­ing sup­port of train­ing at Puckapunyal. 

“We note that noise gen­er­at­ed by this demon­stra­tion may be incon­ve­nient for some near­by res­i­dents, and I would like to thank the local com­mu­ni­ty for their under­stand­ing and tol­er­ance. It is impor­tant that our sol­diers are able to train safe­ly with their ‘tools of trade’ and the community’s sup­port for this train­ing is great­ly appreciated.” 

Exer­cise CHONG JU was named after a bat­tle in North Korea in 1950 when the Third Bat­tal­ion of the Roy­al Aus­tralian Reg­i­ment, sup­port­ed by tanks and artillery, attacked and cap­tured a large North Korea defen­sive line dur­ing their north­ward advance to the Yalu River. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia