Warrior Platform: South Korean Future Soldier Project

Warrior Platform (워리어 플랫폼) is an ongoing project initiated by the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army. Its goal is to modernize individual equipment of all its combat troops and bring them up to contemporary standards and beyond.

Warrior Platform falls under the army's new "Top 5 Game Changer" concept, which is a collection of five key frameworks that the army plans on carrying out to increase its fighting capability. It is the army's response to key challenges it faces today: massive decline in manpower caused by low birth rate and existential threats caused by North Korean nuclear arsenal.

"Top 5 Game Changer" consists of:

1) Building a large arsenal of ballistic & cruise missiles capable of precisely striking strategic targets in any weather condition.

2)  Forming a highly-mobile and heavily-equipped corps capable of rapidly securing enemy's strategic center (IE: Pyeongyang).

3) Increasing capabilities of Special Operations Forces and forming a specialized unit tasked with eliminating enemy leadership.

4) Investing in drones and other autonomous robots.

5) Drastically improving capabilities of individual soldiers.

Warrior Platform is the embodiment of the 5th framework and is expected to be fully implemented by 2022.

Special Forces member showcasing the "Warrior Platform." He is armed with a K1A carbine.

Photo Credit: Defense Media Agency

Background

It is no secret that South Korea, the 10th largest defense spender as of 2018, boasts one of the largest and most well-equipped ground force in the world with thousands of modern main battle tanks, self-propelled howitzers, and other armored vehicles. What many don't realize is that this came at a significant price: neglection of individual equipment.

For as long as it has existed, ROK Armed Forces' top priority has been keeping up with constant arms race with North Korea, which held significant numerical, and, for a time, technological advantage over South Korea. For the Army, in particular, this meant spending most of its funds on "big-ticket" items, such as tanks and artillery, that would play the most significant roles in head-to-head conventional ground warfare. As a result, procuring new individual equipment was often overlooked in favor of procuring more heavy equipment, believing that the cost of return would be greater by doing so.

In truth, their logic did make a lot of sense. ROK Army did not start having significant technological superiority over its North Korean counterpart until well into the 90s. Having more tanks and artillery was more beneficial to South Korea's survival than issuing new individual equipment to infantrymen. Nation-wide conscription also provided constant source of manpower. So it is no surprising that the army had not paid much attention on individal equipment until it held significant advantage over North Korea and until its manpower began dwindling due to low birth rate.

Marine wearing an M1-style nylon ballistic helmet & PASGT-style flak jacket. This type of helmet was put into service in 1974 and the body armor in 1997. Both are still widely used.

Photo Credit: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service

Soldiers participating in a counter-terrorism exercise in the capital city of Seoul.

Photo Credit: Reuter's

Current State

Those who have served in the South Korean military will unanimously agree: their issued equipment was outdated. Tales of conscripts being issued Korean War-era canteens or Vietnam War-era ponchos have been making rounds on the internet since its inception. While things have improved since the late 90s and early 2000s, state of issued individual gear is still beyond lackluster.

It is not an exaggeration to say that an average South Korean soldier in 2018 has the same level of equipment that a US soldier had in the 70s or 80s. Many soldiers are still issued outdated M1-style helmets and ALICE-style load bearing equipment. Body Armor is not widely-issued, being only available to frontline units, Marines, Special Operations Forces, and other small number of select units. Same applies to individual weapon optics.

Warrior platform is not the first time South Korea has tried to modernize its individual equipment; there has been numerous attempts since the early 2000s. This includes issuing of modern ballistic helmet, IOTV-style "multi-purpose body armor (다목적방탄복)," picatinny rail, very first standard-issue optic, and etc.

Unfortunately however, most of these efforts have been unsuccessful, owing to variety of reasons such as slow rate of production, defects, poor performance in the field, cost, and so on.

DI Optical PVS-11K red dot sight is seen mounted on a Daewoo K1A carbine held by an air force military police officer. PVS-11K became the very first standard-issue individual weapon optic in the ROK Armed Forces. Approximately 30,000 units were delivered between 2013 and  2017.

Photo Credit: Defense Media Agency

What's Different?

Because the army's past modernization efforts are riddled with tales of failure and subpar performance, it is understandable why many are viewing Warrior Platform, the latest iteration, with skeptcisim. This time, however, things actually might be different.

Not only is the army working hard to promote the Warrior Platform to the general public across various social media platforms, but it is pushing through the project with an unprecented pace. Most importantly, Warrior Platform is crucial to the army's future.

Only several months after the Warrior Platform was unveiled, the army has already completed the first full set of prototypes, which have been distributed to certain units for field trials. Members of the Special Forces unit which deployed to the UAE past June wil be one of the first to put the Warrior Platform into field test, illustrating how fast the army is moving with the project.

Special Forces members during pre-UAE deployment training. They will be among the first to put Warrior Platform into testing.

Photo Credit: Defense Media Agency

Most importantly, Warrior Platform is crucial to army's future. As mentioned earlier, declining birthrate is a major structural threat. It is expected that army will lose 25% of its current number of soldiers over the next five years. It will have to do much more with much less men in the battlefield battlefield. A single soldier is a valuable resource that the army cannot afford to overlook and Warrior Platform will allow individual sodlier to perform more optimally in the battlefield.

The army has been bombarding social media platforms with promotional materials. Judging by how much the army is trying to sell the idea of Warrior Platform to the public, it seems like they are trying to change the public perception of its working condition, potentially boosting recruitment rate for professional soldiers.

In short, army seems to be relying on Warrior Platform to solve its manpower crisis.

Unveiling of "Warrior Platform" in March, 2018. Showcased here are future & current equipment of Special Forces (left) and infantry (right).

Photo Credit: Chosun Ilbo

Components of the Warrior Platform

As expected, Warrior Platform will overhaul the entire array of individual equipment of soldiers and Special Forces alike. This includes, but is not limited to, all-brand-new ballistic helmet, plate carrier, uniform, weapon optic, IR designator, night vision goggle, eyepro, IFAK, assault pack, main pack, gloves, E-tool, gas mask, suppressor, poncho, magazine, and etc.

Special Forces member dressed in full Warrior Platform setup. 

Photo Credit: Republic of Korea Army

These kinds of equipment have been strictly limited to the most elite units, even within the Special Forces (Black Beret). Large majority of Army's multiple Special Forces members were equipped with the most basic equipment. Only each Special Forces Brigade's Special Mission Battalions and the renowned 707th Special Mission Battalion were issued such items. Now, with the Warrior Platform, all of these will become standard-issue, even to regular infantry, which is a big morale booster as well as a force multiplier.

How individaul protective equipment will change in the next four years.

Helmet side rail & accessories.

Helmet liner.

Modular helmet design.

Plate Carrier.

Body-conscious design.

Optimal load-bearing.

Plate carrier with high-center of gravity to protect the most vital organs and to improve maneuverability.

Combat shirt for improved breathability.

Eyepro for protection against fragments.

Insertable knee pads.

Insertable elbow pads.

Improved combat pants.

 How individual service weapon will change in the next four years.

Improved night vision goggle. 

Pictured: PVS-04K night vision gogle mounted on a rifle to be used with PVS-11K. The lack of standard-issue IR designator requires soldiers to utilize NVG in this method.

Wider field of view on improved night vision equipment.

Improved day & night optic with over 50,000 hours of battery life.

Standard-issue IR designator.

Introducing suppressors to regular combat troops.

New lightweight polymer & reinforced-plastic magazines.

Photo Credits: bemil.chosun.com

Important thing to note is that the Warrior Platform's goal is to modernize individual equipment of Special Forces members and regular ground troops, both of which have wildly different roles. As such, many components will feature modular design so they can be issued accordingly to appropriate personnel. 

For example, an infantryman might be issued a full combat helmet, while Special Forces member might receive a high-cut variant. For another example, an artillery crewman might be issued a full body armor while an infantryman might be issued a plate carrier. Different levels of ballistic plates will also be issued accordingly along with different types of vest.

An ideal infantryman with Warrior Platform. To his immediate right is that of a Special Forces member.

Photo Credit: Chosun Ilbo

As part of Warrior Platform, new service-wide uniforms and camoflague pattern will be revealed in late 2018. This uniform change will reflect the rapidly urbanizing terrain of the Korean peninsula and significantly improve upon user comfort.

New firearms are not included in Warrior Platform, since development of new service rifle exists as a separate project. Instead, the army will continue procure S&T Motiv K2C1 to partially replace the Daewoo K2 as a stopgap measure and to use as a platform for Warrior Platform.

Soldiers with K2C1 (left) and K2 (right).

S&T Motiv K2C1. Note that the current "Granite" camouflage pattern that has been in service since early 2010s will be replaced in the near future.

Photo Credits: Defense Media Agency

As shown in previous photo, Warrior Platform is already undergoing field testing by Special Forces members deployed in UAE. This correlates with this blog post's previous remark about how fast the army is progressing with the project.

The process was made smoother by combining what would have been separate procurement processes for uniforms, weapon accessories, helmets, and etc in the past into a single, fluid process. 

The army plans to begin full production and distribution in 2019. The goal is to fully implement Warrior Platform to Special Forces brigades by 2021 and to all combat troops, including mechanized infantry divisions, reconnaissance battalions, and commando regiments, by 2022.

Special Forces members with Warrior Platform during pre-UAE deployment cremony, June 2018.

Photo Credit: Defense Media Agency

Lastly, Warrior Platform is divided into three phases. This blog post has only covered the first phase, since it is an actively ongoing process with tangible results. Second and third phases are not slated to start until mid to late 2020s, and this is all under the assumption that first phase is successful. 

If the first phase is concerned with bringing South Korean individaul equipment up to par with those of other modern armed forces, next two phases are concerned with surpassing them with implementation of high-tech weapon and other equipment. 

Three phases of Warrior Platform

Photo Credit: Yonhap News

Concerns & Personal Opinion

Warrior Platform sounds perfect on paper and too good to be true. If it were to be successfully implemented, ROK Army would have had taken a giant leap in a very short period of time. However, there are many challenges that Warrior Platform will have to overcome. 

First is the increased weight. Even though the new vests and packs are said to have been designed with better load bearing and breathability, the overall weight of individual equipment has increased rather significantly. This will undoubtedly affect physical performance of soldiers in the field, especially in the heat of summer. Most soldiers have no experience performing physical activities with weighted vests and other gear. The army will need to physically condition new conscripts to be able to handle the added weight and drag.

Second is the logistic chain. Warrior Platform includes many small moving parts. Will the army be able to properly repair or replace many components that make up Warrior Platform? If the army does not overhaul its logistic network to reflect changes brought upon by Warrior Platform, it wouldn't last in the long run.

Lastly, if the components of Warrior Platform don't work as advertised, large amount of funds would have gone to waste. The rapid pace which the army is pushing the project at might prevent thorough testing of every component. Domestically-produced individual equipment have turned out to perform poorly in the past, so it would be wise to avoid making the same mistake twice.

This blog sincerely hopes Warrior Platform to be successful. Not only will Warrior Platform finally allow South Korean soldiers to stand shoulder to shoulder with foreign counterparts, it will, most importantly, save countless lives of soldiers who have been treated as if they were replacable for the longest time if a conflict were to begin.

Video Credit: Defense Media Agency