Northwestern Islands and Naval UAVs to Be Developed Domestically

Smart unmanned aerial vehicle in rotary-wing flight

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) development project for the northwestern islands, which had been stagnant for 12 years since the Yeonpyeong Island shelling provocation, will be pursued domestically rather than overseas.

According to the military on the 29th, Hansung University conducted a research project from December 2019 on the "possibility of integrating UAV projects for the northwestern islands and ship-mounted UAVs." The results showed that integrating the projects and developing them domestically would be economically advantageous. Domestic development would cost 406.7 billion KRW for procurement, but if the projects are separated and some UAVs are imported from overseas, the procurement cost would increase to 676.3 billion KRW. Maintenance costs would also be 1.1952 trillion KRW if integrated, but 2.4083 trillion KRW if separated.

However, if the projects are integrated, the introduction of the northwestern islands UAV and the ship-mounted UAV for Aegis-class ships such as the Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin-class (KDX-II) is expected to be delayed by two years from the original plan, making it possible only by 2030. Due to changes in the terrain of Baengnyeongdo's natural runway, fixed-wing airplane-type UAVs cannot take off or land, so it is expected that helicopter-type rotary-wing UAVs will be developed.

The military introduced a "balloon-type" tactical airship from overseas in 2013, but the project was canceled due to consecutive defects and crash accidents during the acceptance inspection process. To strengthen capabilities, the army deployed the Heron UAV at the corps level and the navy used unmanned reconnaissance aircraft on intelligence ships, but crashes occurred even with these, raising concerns about a growing surveillance and reconnaissance gap in the northwestern islands.

A military official said, "After re-verifying the requirements in the first half of this year, we plan to expedite the procurement project."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.