The Ministry of National Defense's Drone Measures with Low Success Rate

Issues Including Development Uncertainty, Inability for Rapid Acquisition, and Aging

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Military authorities face criticism that their response to North Korea's drones is unrealistic. Although a development timeline has been set, it is uncertain whether the projects will be completed on schedule.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 28th, the '2023-2027 Defense Mid-term Plan' includes a plan to invest 560 billion KRW over five years in projects such as detection and estimation systems, 'soft-kill' and 'hard-kill' weapon systems to counter North Korean drone threats. The Ministry expects the laser anti-aircraft weapon Block 1 research and development project to currently be in the testing and evaluation phase, with R&D completion in 2026 and operational deployment beginning in 2027.

However, this anti-aircraft weapon is identical to the alternative proposed in 2017 when North Korean drones were first detected, promising accelerated reinforcement of additional defense capabilities. Five years ago, the Ministry also pledged early deployment of new anti-aircraft guns and laser anti-aircraft weapons capable of shooting down small North Korean drones.

The Ministry of National Defense also stated that an integrated anti-drone system would be developed by 2027. However, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) already heavily promoted last June a weapon system that detects and identifies drones via radar and jams them with interference signals to capture ultra-small drones, called the 'Radar (RADAR) Linked Anti-Drone Integrated Solution.' At that time, DAPA touted it as world-class technology. Yet, this system is currently not deployed in the military.

The Ministry announced plans to introduce a portable small drone countermeasure system through a rapid demonstration acquisition project to fill the gap in small drone response capabilities.

This too is unrealistic. Although DAPA is currently promoting rapid demonstration acquisition projects, only 14 out of 30 projects have been delivered to the military within six months. Drone-related projects such as grenade-launching drones, helicopter-drone linked systems, and launch-type reconnaissance drones have all been extended. This indicates the difficulty of domestic development.

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s directive yesterday to establish a drone unit is also expected to accelerate progress. Currently, the Army Ground Operations Command (GOC) operates two drone battalions (four companies), and the mid-term plan includes the establishment of three additional companies. A Ministry of National Defense official explained, "President Yoon’s instruction means to expedite the establishment and expansion of drone units."

Inside and outside the military, there are concerns that the drones possessed by this unit are severely outdated.

The military currently owns about 710 drones across seven types. The Ground Operations Command introduced Israel’s IAI Heron in 2016 to monitor the West Sea NLL area. The Heron can fly for over 40 hours at an altitude of 10 km. However, only one set consisting of three units was imported, leaving the eastern region virtually unmonitored.

The quantity of division-level drones, Cham-mae, is also insufficient. The Army owns 14 sets totaling 54 units (one set per division), but considering maintenance, each division should have two sets.

The aging of drones is a serious problem. The Searcher used by corps was introduced in 1999, and the Songgolmae has been in service since 2002, far exceeding their 15-year lifecycle. The crash rate of battalion-level drones, Rimoa, is increasing annually, making mission execution practically impossible.

The Army plans to introduce medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAV) and corps reconnaissance drones (UAV-II) to replace current drones, but there are no runways for takeoff and landing. The wingspans of the Searcher and Songgolmae currently used by corps are 7.6 m and 6.4 m respectively. The newly introduced MUAV and UAV-II will have wingspans of 25.3 m and 17.1 m, requiring separate hangars.

A military official said, "The damage cost due to drone accidents this year alone amounts to 4.4 billion KRW," adding, "Frequent accidents during the initial deployment phase are the main cause."

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