This file photo, taken June 2, 2023, shows an Army transport drone making a supply drop demonstration at an airfield in Yangju, 29 kilometers north of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 27 (Korea Bizwire) — The defense ministry on Tuesday established a decree for the creation of a drone operations command ahead of its planned launch later this year amid efforts to counter North Korea’s military threats and bolster its use of the unmanned assets.
The ministry promulgated the presidential decree governing the unit’s operation after its approval by the Cabinet last Tuesday. The military plans to launch the command in September as Seoul has sought to beef up counter-drone measures after North Korea’s drone incursions late last year.
Five North Korean drones intruded across the inter-Korean border in December, with one of them having penetrated a no-fly zone close to Seoul’s presidential office.
Under the decree, the command is tasked with a wide range of missions, including responding to unmanned enemy assets, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike operations, and psychological and electromagnetic warfare, as well as the operational development of drone assets.
“The ministry expects the drone operations command to carry out strategic and operational missions systematically and efficiently in joint battlefield domains by utilizing drones and becoming the leading unit in the combat development of drone operations,” it said.
Amid efforts to boost anti-drone capabilities, the military is also known to have adopted an aggressive counter-drone operational principle, under which a single North Korean drone infiltration would prompt it to send 10 or more unmanned aerial vehicles into Pyongyang.
(Yonhap)
