South Korea Announces It Will Speed Up Development of Anti-Drone System After North Korean Airspace Incursion
Considering that small low cost drones is the future of warfare it is amazing that South Korea didn’t invest in this technology years ago when North Korea first began flying drones into their airspace:
South Korea’s state arms agency said Thursday it will push to speed up the development of a jamming system against small drones after the military’s recent failure to shoot down North Korean drones.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said it will look to develop the counter-drone system over a 39-month period starting next year, compared to a 48-month window such a development usually requires.
DAPA also said it has opened bidding for a portable anti-drone jammer, which it plans to purchase and deploy next year.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Good.
After the 2014, NK UAV incursion incident, the ROK invested in two things.
New radars that can detect small low flying objects, namely Israeli Drone Guard and the Korean made TPS-880K radars and hard kill capabilities.
The hard kill capabilities include the anti-drone laser that is scheduled to be deployed next year, in addition to anti-aircraft guns, short range SAMs, and the KA-1 light attack aircraft, that are currently in service.
However strangely, the ROK didn’t invest in soft-kill capabilities. Maybe they didn’t think it was necessary?
Anyways it is good that the ROK is now focusing on this capability. But since they are now starting R&D maybe buying them off the shelf and mounting them on tactical vehicles is money better spent?