Army to Establish DroneBot Combat System Early... Adoption of Commercial Drones

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter]The Army has decided to establish a 'Dronebot (Drone+Robot) Combat System' centered on domestically developed commercial drones at an early stage.

On the 13th, at Gyeryongdae in Chungnam, the Army revealed its determination to establish the Dronebot Combat System early through commercial drones at the Army Drone Development Grand Forum presided over by Chief of Staff Nam Young-shin.

At the forum, Chief Nam stated, "The Army will lead the role of a test bed necessary for the growth of the domestic drone industry by establishing a cooperative system of coexistence among the public, private, industry, academia, and research sectors," and added, "At the same time, we will concentrate all capabilities to early operationalize the Dronebot Combat System, which will emerge as a core force of the future Army."

The forum presented efforts and limitations in applying the Army drone industry test, plans for drone combat system specifications and standardization to be promoted this year, progress in drone development by function, and future technology prospects.

In particular, in the presentation on progress in drone development by function and future technology prospects, reconnaissance, attack, transport, swarm drones, AI (Artificial Intelligence)-based autonomous drones, as well as UAM (Urban Air Mobility) drones were introduced. Experts from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Agency for Defense Development, Korea Drone Innovation Association, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Hanwha Systems explained the current domestic functional drone technology development level and outlook, the Army reported.

The Army explained, "This forum was prepared to explore early establishment plans for unit-level Dronebot Combat Systems through the introduction of domestically excellent performance commercial drones," and added, "Through this opportunity, we will minimize the gap between civilian drone technology development levels and military Requirements of Capability (ROC) levels and build a collaborative system."

At the venue, 11 types of commercial drones developed as reconnaissance, attack, transport drones, and UAM were exhibited. The Army plans to hold the Drone Development Grand Forum twice a year regularly to strengthen collaboration and communication with industry, academia, research, and government sectors.

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