China is continuing to expand their surveillance capabiliites with this new drone:
Japanese fighter jets have scrambled to intercept a Chinese surveillance and strike drone seen operating for the first time north of Okinawa. A Wing Loong-10 was spotted Monday over the East China Sea by members of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, according to a statement that day from the country’s Ministry of Defense.
The drone was initially clocked heading east, as if it were traveling from mainland China, the statement said. After flying over waters west of Amami Oshima, the drone appeared to reverse course back toward its homeland. It did not violate Japanese airspace, the statement said.
North Korea tests underwater nuclear attack drone in response to joint military exercises.
Exclusive information from NFSC, the technology and method of use of North Korea's underwater nuclear attack drones was stolen from the U.S by The CCP through threats and coercion of U.S. pic.twitter.com/YHNEvGxrcA
N.K. leader inspects attack drone North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R, front), accompanied by Ri Pyong-chol (L, front), vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea, inspects an attack drone in 2023, in this photo taken from a documentary released on Jan. 15, 2024, by the North’s official Korean Central Television. The North’s state media have yet to report Kim’s inspection of an attack drone. (Yonhap)
Anti-drone drill South Korean soldiers take care of mock victims at a water treatment plant in Seoul on Dec. 27, 2023, during a military drill under a scenario of an enemy’s terrorist attack at the plant with low-flying aircraft and drones. (Yonhap)
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.
Here is an update on South Korea’s efforts to create a drone unit that can respond both offensively and defensively against North Korea:
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.
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.
Drone light show Over 500 drones take to the sky to create Seoul’s new slogan, “Seoul, My Soul,” during a drone light show in a park along the Han River in Seoul on April 29, 2023. (Yonhap)
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:
The test warhead of an “underwater nuclear attack drone” of North Korea detonates underwater after it was launched off the coast of Riwon County of South Hamgyong Province on March 21, 2023, in this photo released on March 24 by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
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.
S. Korea, U.S. stage counter-drone drills This photo, posted on the Pentagon’s Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, shows the South Korean and U.S. militaries staging counter-drone drills at Kunsan Air Base in Gunsan, 275 kilometers south of Seoul, on Feb. 7, 2023. (Yonhap)
