It took war in Ukraine to for the Pentagon to understand that the future of warfare is drones when most everybody else could easily see it coming. However, there is not as much money building drones as overpriced manned aircraft for defense contractors:
The war in Ukraine has shown the value of low-cost drone swarms in modern warfare. Now the Pentagon is planning to build an army of thousands of small, cheap drones in hopes of spurring U.S. drone production and cutting China’s dominance of that market.
American drone makers are hoping the Pentagon’s “Replicator” program will give a shot in the arm to U.S. manufacturing. Defense experts say there is a need for Washington to build a drone supply chain that doesn’t run through China, due to the small but real risk of a future war between the two rivals.
Stars and Stripes
You can read more at the link.
Here is an update on South Korea’s efforts to create a drone unit that can respond both offensively and defensively against North Korea:
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| South Korean military drones fly during joint drills with the United States at Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, in this May 23 photo. The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday promulgated a decree for the launch of a multipurpose drone operations unit. AP-Yonhap |
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday promulgated a decree for the launch of a multipurpose drone operations unit as part of efforts to counter North Korea’s evolving air threats and to reinforce the capabilities that have become increasingly critical in modern warfare.
Korea Times
The declaration comes six months after President Yoon Suk Yeol told his military officials to create a command center for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strategies for both offensive and defensive missions.
The unit, which is expected to be established in September, will take direct orders from Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and take on reconnaissance, strike and other roles. Its presence in the military may well expand as its interoperability with other units improve, officials said.
But the location and leader of the unit have not been determined yet.
You can read more at the link, but according to the article the city of Pocheon just north of Uijeongbu in Gyeongi province is one of the leading sites to base the new drone unit at.
Sounds like more North Korean propaganda to try and strike fear in South Korea and impress their own domestic audience with something that probably doesn’t even work:
North Korea has tested a new nuclear-capable underwater attack drone, state media reported on Friday, as leader Kim Jong Un warned joint military drills by South Korea and the U.S. should stop.
During the test, the new North Korean drone cruised underwater at a depth of 80 to 150 metres (260-500 feet) for over 59 hours and detonated a non-nuclear payload in waters off its east coast on Thursday, North Korean state news agency KCNA said.
Reuters
You can read more at the link, but North Korea claims they can make underwater nuclear tsunamis to destroy naval fleets.
Via a reader tip from Korean Man comes this news of some pretty cool anti-drone technology being developed by KAIST. Hopefully is works because drones are clearly going to play a major role in future warfare as we are currently getting a preview of in Ukraine:
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on Tuesday that its researchers had developed a counter-terror anti-drone technology for use in urban areas.
After finding that drone makers’ control function components have different electromagnetic sensitivity, the research team analyzed the sensitivity-maximizing frequency by drone brand.
With this, the research team proved that the use of narrowband electromagnetic pulse waves can instantly neutralize target drones remotely.
Unlike existing anti-drone technologies, the use of electromagnetic pulse waves with a specific frequency in a narrow bandwidth can minimize the impact on nearby electronic devices.
Even when a group of drones using the same control function components attack, this technology can make the drones fall straight to the ground.
In other words, if 100 enemy drones fly together with 100 ally drones, this technology can take down the enemy drones without influencing ally drones.
Korea Biz Wire
You can read more at the link.
