The South Korean Army on Saturday held its first conference on military drones, at which researchers rolled out drone-related studies such as development on so-called “suicide drones.”

The event was hosted by the conference held at Korea Army Intelligence School, in charge of training intelligence officers in the Army.

Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, refer to aircraft that require no human pilot with varying degrees autonomy in their operation. Their uses vary from military use to aerial surveillance, filming, search and rescue, cargo transportation. 

Shim Hyun-chul, a professor of aerospace engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, said KAIST had been developing drones that can be used to carry out military missions.

This includes research and development of suicide drones, which are remotely guided to a target and set off an armed device upon reaching it.

“KAIST lab has been carrying out studies on using drones for attacks since 2014. ... We conducted a test flight under supervision of the Agency for Defense Development in November of 2014,” he said.

Shim also revealed the photos of the test flight, adding that the researchers were working on detection and tracking of the target, along with automated landing technologies for the drone.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation, there are currently 895 UAVs being operated in the country.

The drone technology on the military front dates back to the 1970s when the ADD sought to introduce a miniature air launch decoy codenamed “Solgae.” While the project never fully took off, the ADD and the Korea Aerospace Industries launched Korea’s first homegrown UAV RQ-101 “Songgolmae” in 2001.

Shim pointed out that combat drone technology had made strides over the past 30 years, with drone roles expanding from mainly reconnaissance to striking enemy bases.

He explained that there had been a worldwide move to develop unmanned combat aerial vehicles with stealth capabilities. This includes the Northrop Grumman X-47A Pegasus, a demonstration UCAV model.

Brig. Gen. Moon Seong-cheol, principal of the school, stressed the importance of drone technology in the military and said that the Army planned to make the conference an annual event.

There has been a security concern on the peninsula recently over reports that objects suspected of being North Korean drones have infiltrated across the border.

The South Korean military officially denied that any drone had passed the inter-Korea borders since Jan. 13, and reiterated that it is on constant surveillance against North Korean drones.

In a closed-door press briefing, the military added that it plans to raise required operational capability of its air defense radars -- which currently detect aircraft -- to also detect smaller drones.



By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)