South Korean official touts fledgling drone command as global model

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Nations eager to bolster their military drone chops should look to South Korea , where officials recently centralized the discipline’s various functions under a single umbrella, the chief of South Korea’s drone operations command said.

“Before our drone operations command was established, each branch of our armed forces had their own individual drone units,” Maj. Gen. Lee Bo-hyung said during a panel at the UMEX defense conference on Jan. 22 in the United Arab Emirates.

“However, since every branch has their own area of responsibility, when it came to operational and strategic deployments, there were some limits as to how we conducted our missions,” he added.

South Korea officially established the command in September in the wake of North Korea’s intrusion on Dec. 26, 2022, which included the entry of one enemy system into a no-fly zone near the presidential office in Seoul.

The South Korean military at the time earned much criticism for having failed to intercept and shoot down the drones. Following the incident, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to rapidly boost the country’s drone-related capabilities and readiness.

Bo-hyung said one of the quickest and most effective moves to that end was creating a joint unit that could entirely dedicate itself to specific drone operations, both defensive and offensive.

“Since North Korea is significantly increasing their military capabilities, including nuclear threats, it is important for our Joint Chiefs of Staff to have a reliable, joint unit that can conduct these types of missions,” he said. “We aim to have an operational and strategic balance at the command; we conduct reconnaissance as well as strike, electronic warfare and psychological warfare operations.”

The unit is based in Pocheon, near the inter-Korean border, and falls under the control of the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman. It is the first joint combat unit to be composed of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel, according to a Korea Times report that quoted a previous military statement.

In line with the new command’s doctrine, all missions must now include mobile counter-drone capabilities for detecting and classifying enemy unmanned aircraft. The unit is also tasked with standardizing the education curriculum of the country’s different military branches as well as setting safety standards about the deployment of forces, Bo-hyung said.

“A great number of countries around the world are interested in deploying their drone forces as early as possible, so we suggest that they can look at our case as an example and could create something similar,” Bo-hyung added.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s drone-focused reorganization comes against the backdrop of an increasingly hostile stance by the North. According to the North’s state news agency KCNA, leader Kim Jong Un said the government would boost its nuclear arsenal in 2024 and abandon the objective of reunification with South Korea, instead designating its neighbor as an enemy.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

阿联酋阿布扎比——韩国无人机作战司令部司令表示，渴望提升其军事无人机能力的国家应该向韩国学习，韩国官员最近将该领域的各种职能集中到一个统一的框架下。

“在我们成立无人机作战指挥部之前，我们武装部队的每个军种都有自己的无人机部队，”李普亨少将在1月22日于阿拉伯联合酋长国举行的UMEX防务会议的一个小组讨论会上说。

“然而，由于每个部门都有自己的职责范围，因此在作战和战略部署方面，我们在执行任务的方式上存在一些限制，”他补充道。

2022年12月26日，朝鲜入侵韩国，包括一架敌机进入首尔总统府附近的禁飞区。随后，韩国于9月正式成立了该指挥部。

当时，韩国军方因未能拦截并击落无人机而饱受诟病。事件发生后，韩国总统尹锡悦誓言要迅速提升该国的无人机相关能力和战备水平。

普亨表示，实现这一目标最快捷、最有效的措施之一是创建一个联合部队，该部队可以完全致力于特定的无人机作战，包括防御和进攻作战。

他说：“鉴于朝鲜正在大幅提升其军事能力，包括核威胁，因此，对于我们的联合参谋本部来说，拥有一支能够执行此类任务的可靠联合部队至关重要。我们的目标是在指挥部内实现作战和战略平衡；我们开展侦察、打击、电子战和心理战行动。”

该部队驻扎在靠近朝韩边境的抱川市，隶属于韩国国防部和联合参谋本部议长指挥。据《韩国时报》援引此前军方声明报道，这是首支由陆军、海军、空军和海军陆战队人员组成的联合作战部队。

根据新司令部的作战原则，所有任务都必须具备移动式反无人机能力，用于探测和识别敌方无人机。该部队还负责规范国家各军种的教育课程，并制定部队部署安全标准，普亨表示。

“世界上很多国家都对尽早部署无人机部队很感兴趣，所以我们建议他们可以以我们的案例为榜样，并创建类似的案例，”Bo-hyung补充道。

与此同时，韩国以无人机为重点的重组正值朝鲜态度日益敌对之际。据朝鲜官方通讯社朝中社报道，朝鲜领导人金正恩表示，朝鲜政府将在2024年扩充其核武库，并放弃与韩国统一的目标，转而将韩国视为敌人。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。