At the 2025 Unmanned Mobility Industry Expo held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, visitors are exploring key products at the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) promotional booth. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it will dramatically expand drone training for conscripts, aiming to produce what it calls “500,000 drone warriors” as militaries worldwide adapt to the growing role of unmanned systems on the battlefield.
Defense Minister Ahn Kyu-baek announced the initiative at a ceremony designating the Army’s 36th Infantry Division in Wonju as a specialized unit for testing small drones and counter-drone systems.
The plan envisions equipping every squad with at least one training drone, providing all soldiers with basic piloting experience during service, and creating an ecosystem in which drones are as routine as rifles.
The ministry has earmarked 20.5 billion won ($15 million) in next year’s defense budget for the program, including 19 billion won to procure more than 11,000 low-cost commercial drones for training and 1.4 billion won to train specialized instructors. The Army also plans to convert underused facilities into drone training fields.
Drones are being used in various ways in the military. On August 21, during an exercise in the East Sea, the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital drone team and crew members of the Hyunshihak ship used a drone to deliver a patient’s specimen to the fleet medical unit. (Photo provided by the Republic of Korea Navy’s First Fleet Command)
The 36th Division, already experimenting with commercial drones adapted for reconnaissance and attack roles, demonstrated drone and counter-drone tactics during Thursday’s event.
Displays included an electromagnetic pulse gun mounted on an SUV that downed three drones simultaneously, as well as kamikaze drones and grenade-dropping quadcopters striking mock targets.
“Drones are becoming game changers in modern warfare,” Ahn said, noting that militaries around the world are racing to deploy both offensive and defensive unmanned systems.
He pledged to scale up the Army’s drone inventory from about 300 training units today to more than 50,000 in the coming years, ensuring that each squad has multiple drones without burdening soldiers with liability for losses.
The initiative reflects South Korea’s urgency in integrating drone warfare into its defense posture, as conflicts from Ukraine to the Middle East have underscored the strategic value of inexpensive but versatile unmanned systems.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
