The Republic of Korea Army (ROK Army, ROKA, Korean: 대한민국 육군) is the largest of the military branches of the South Korean armed forces with 522,000 members as of 2008. The ROK Army makes up the core of Korea's national defense. Its mission in peace time is to deter war with the help of the Navy and the Air Force; its wartime mission is to bring all ground combat to victory. Organized into the ROK Army Headquarters, three Field Army Commands, the Aviation Operations Command, the Special Warfare Command, and units to support these commands, the ROK Army consists of 11 corps, 49 divisions, and 19 brigades. Approximately five hundred sixty thousand troops make up the army, and its core equipment includes some 2,360 tanks, 5,180 pieces of field artillery, and 2,400 armored vehicles. Each field army, corps command, and division have its own artillery unit that provides effective fire support for the maneuver forces under it. These artillery units possess various sorts of artillery, targeting equipment, fire-control systems, and high-tech weapons that make them capable of timely and sustained fire support.
