"Equipped with Drone Response System?"... Military Internal Documents Say "Cannot Detect Below 3m Size"

Military: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Under 3m Cannot Be Shot Down with Current System

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] It has been confirmed that it was impossible from the beginning to shoot down North Korean drones with the weapons deployed by our military. This directly contradicts the military's previous explanation that there were countermeasures against North Korean drones.

According to internal Ministry of National Defense data on the 9th, our military judged that while the air defense systems they possess can detect and strike enemy drones about 6 meters in size, it is impossible to detect and strike small drones under 3 meters.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Our military has claimed that, as North Korea is increasing its use of drones as part of strengthening its defense capabilities and operating nearly 1,000 drones, it has established a corresponding response system. General Jung Sang-hwa, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, also responded during the Air Force National Assembly audit last October regarding the formation of units to counter North Korean drones, saying, "We have all the response systems and air defense systems in place. We are upgrading and developing systems because very small drones are not detected by radar."

Four North Korean drones were detected around Ganghwa Island on the 26th of last month. The flight paths of these drones were detected by the Air Force air defense control radar of a unit under the Air Defense Control Command located on the northwestern islands. There are no small drone detection radars (SSR) or local air defense radars deployed on the northwestern islands, making this the only practical means of drone detection.

The air defense weapons deployed on the northwestern islands include the Biho system, 30mm wheeled anti-aircraft guns, and the Vulcan. These weapons are designed to shoot down low-altitude intruding aircraft, and the military internally assesses that it is practically difficult to shoot down North Korean drones under 3 meters in size.

For this reason, the Army's Cobra (AH-1S) helicopter fired about 100 rounds from a 20mm machine gun in the Namdan area to counter North Korean drones but failed to shoot any down. At that time, the military explained that the North Korean drones were small, under 2 meters in size, and usually sky blue in color, making it difficult for fighter pilots to visually identify them, thus making shooting them down challenging.

Inside and outside the military, voices are emerging that since North Korean drones are only partially identifiable by air defense systems, there is a need to supplement the air defense systems.

The problem lies ahead. It is known that North Korea flew drones over the West Sea Five Islands even before the November 2010 Yeonpyeong Island shelling provocation. Later, in August 2015, when tensions between the South and North were high due to the 'wooden box mine' provocation in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), drones were flown near Panmunjom. This was just before high-level inter-Korean talks.

Military experts speculate that because North Korea lacks high-performance reconnaissance aircraft or reconnaissance satellites, it likely used drones to set attack coordinates. The three drones that crashed in 2014 had coordinates with Global Positioning System (GPS) codes entered. Based on this, our military was able to know the drones' routes. Sending multiple drones like this time indicates that precise coordinates were necessary. Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies, predicted, "North Korea is recently accelerating the development of reconnaissance satellites and aiming to improve reconnaissance capabilities. Until then, it will continue such drone reconnaissance."

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