Tag: drones

It looks like the ROK government may have come up with their response to North Korea’s trash balloon attacks even though they deny it:

 North Korea said Sunday it has ordered its artillery corps near the border with South Korea to fully prepare to shoot after the North threatened a “horrible disaster” over the alleged flight of drones over its capital.

North Korea claimed the South had sent unmanned drones over Pyongyang three times this month. 

In a statement carried by its state media, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North’s leader Kim Jong-un, said the North was ready to take a “strong corresponding retaliatory action” in case drones carrying anti-Pyongyang materials are flown again into the North, warning that the “attack time” can come at any time.

In response, South Korea’s defense ministry said any attempts by the North to harm its people would result in the end of the Kim regime. 

On Friday, North Korea’s foreign ministry claimed that South Korean drones carrying leaflets were detected in the night skies over Pyongyang on Oct. 3, as well as Wednesday and Thursday of this week, and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again. South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun initially denied that the military had sent any drones across the border, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff later said it could not confirm whether the North’s claims were true.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if the activist group Fighters for a Free North Korea flew this drone with a wink and a nod from the ROK government?

Drones are now an extremely important part of modern warfare and the ROK military is planning to purchase some of the most combat proven systems:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects what the North claims to be suicide drones at the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences, Aug. 24, in this photo released by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency two days later. Yonhap

The South Korean military is set to purchase Polish loitering munitions within this year, a move experts believe will significantly bolster the nation’s ability to counter North Korea’s purported suicide drones. The Polish drones, proven effective on the battlefield in Ukraine against Russian forces, could be a game changer in airborne warfare, analysts said.

According to military sources, Tuesday, the Ministry of National Defense recently submitted a request to acquire military drones to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), which is now preparing to announce the bid.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I would not be surprised if Kim Jong-un is developing and showcasing his suicide drones in hopes of selling them to Russia:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen a performance test of various drones, calling for the development and production of more suicide drones to enhance war preparedness, state media reported Monday.

Kim supervised the test organized by the Drone Institute of the Academy of Defence Sciences on Saturday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

In the test, the drones flew along various preset courses and correctly identified and destroyed the designated targets, as they have missions to attack enemy targets on the ground and in the sea, the report said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

China is continuing to expand their surveillance capabiliites with this new drone:

Japanese fighter jets have scrambled to intercept a Chinese surveillance and strike drone seen operating for the first time north of Okinawa. A Wing Loong-10 was spotted Monday over the East China Sea by members of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, according to a statement that day from the country’s Ministry of Defense.

The drone was initially clocked heading east, as if it were traveling from mainland China, the statement said. After flying over waters west of Amami Oshima, the drone appeared to reverse course back toward its homeland. It did not violate Japanese airspace, the statement said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It took war in Ukraine to for the Pentagon to understand that the future of warfare is drones when most everybody else could easily see it coming. However, there is not as much money building drones as overpriced manned aircraft for defense contractors:

The war in Ukraine has shown the value of low-cost drone swarms in modern warfare. Now the Pentagon is planning to build an army of thousands of small, cheap drones in hopes of spurring U.S. drone production and cutting China’s dominance of that market.

American drone makers are hoping the Pentagon’s “Replicator” program will give a shot in the arm to U.S. manufacturing. Defense experts say there is a need for Washington to build a drone supply chain that doesn’t run through China, due to the small but real risk of a future war between the two rivals.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is an update on South Korea’s efforts to create a drone unit that can respond both offensively and defensively against North Korea:

South Korean military drones fly during joint drills with the United States at Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, in this May 23 photo. The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday promulgated a decree for the launch of a multipurpose drone operations unit. AP-Yonhap

The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday promulgated a decree for the launch of a multipurpose drone operations unit as part of efforts to counter North Korea’s evolving air threats and to reinforce the capabilities that have become increasingly critical in modern warfare.

The declaration comes six months after President Yoon Suk Yeol told his military officials to create a command center for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strategies for both offensive and defensive missions.

The unit, which is expected to be established in September, will take direct orders from Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and take on reconnaissance, strike and other roles. Its presence in the military may well expand as its interoperability with other units improve, officials said.

But the location and leader of the unit have not been determined yet.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but according to the article the city of Pocheon just north of Uijeongbu in Gyeongi province is one of the leading sites to base the new drone unit at.