South Korea Tests Unmanned Attack Drones As Defense Against North Korea’s Growing Fleet Of Military Drones
Researchers in South Korea are testing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) as defense for the threat that North Korean fleet of military drones bring, reported Voice of America on Wednesday.
According to The Week on April 2, 2014, the South Korean military has been able to obtain a sample of the North's drone following an exchange of fire during a naval exercise. The drone is suspected to be developed as part of a reconnaissance mission described by experts as "poorly designed," "antiquated," and "toy-like."
"It is like a toy," said cyber defense professor at Korea University, Kim Hyoung Joong. "But for surveillance purposes, it doesn't have to be a high-tech, top-notch military product like Predators or Global Hawk drones."
Also, recently on Oct. 10, Yahoo News noted that during North Korea's celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Workers' Party, numerous armored vehicles, tanks, missiles mounted on trucks and drones parade on the streets of Pyongyang, while military planes fly in formation.
Jin Moo Kim, an expert at Seoul's Korea Institute for Defense Analysis, notes that North Korea has also unveiled their new 300-milimeter rocket launcher, a KN-08 ballistic missile that they previously displayed in 2012 and a few more drones.
In preparation for the country's defense against North Korea's growing fleet of drones, South Korea designs their attack drones to aerially assault foreign UAVs in mid-air.
Head of the unmanned systems research group at the Korea Advances Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Shim Hyun Chul and his team of students have tested the new drone technology.
"The fear is that the drones are very easy to build... They can do a lot of things," notes Shim. "It appears as a very new threat."
Although the recovered North Korean drones on South Korean soil appear to be for reconnaissance purposes only, analysts fear that armed drones could come hovering over South Korea next.
"We did not expect that North Korea could make such small drones and avoid our radar," says Moon Sung Muk of the Korea Research Institute for Strategy in Seoul. "South Korea must come up with a new security plan to detect these drones quicker and attack them," he adds.
According to Shim, the best that he and his team could do is to enhance their drone technology faster than the enemy.