Tag: drones

It is interesting that this conclusion is being leaked to media:

The U.S.-led U.N. Command (UNC) has concluded both South and North Korea violated the armistice by sending drones into each other’s territory last month, an informed source said Wednesday.

The UNC recently reached the conclusion after its special team investigated the North’s Dec. 26 drone infiltrations, which led the South to send its drones into the North in a “corresponding” step.

UNC Commander Gen. Paul LaCamera has been briefed on the investigation outcome, the source told Yonhap News Agency, requesting anonymity.

LaCamera, who also heads the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and the U.S. Forces Korea, is said to have been pondering whether to disclose the outcome amid concerns that it could risk friction with the Seoul government.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is surprising that this doesn’t happen more around the THAAD base. The fact someone lost probably around a thousand dollars by losing their drone might deter others from trying this:

Military and police personnel resumed a search Wednesday for a presumed civilian drone thought to have crashed after flying near a U.S. THAAD missile defense unit in a southern county the previous day, officials said.

The authorities are conducting the search in areas close to the base in Seongju, 217 kilometers south of Seoul, while police are investigating who sent the drone and for what purpose.

The Army said chances appear low that the drone was mobilized for espionage. 

U.S. Forces Korea personnel are known to have first detected the drone flying toward the base at 12:54 p.m. Tuesday and used a jamming gun to bring it down, according to defense sources.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The DPK doesn’t seem too interested in defending ROK sovereignty:

The military refuted the opposition party’s claim on Monday that South Korean drones sent to North Korea were a violation of the inter-Korean truce, claiming that the South exercised its right of self-defense.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) defended President Yoon Suk Yeol’s eye-for-an-eye response to five North Korean drones that crossed over the inter-Korean border, Dec. 26, in a clear violation of a 2018 military pact signed between the two sides.

“The border incursion by the North Korean drones was a provocative act that apparently violated the Korean Armistice Agreement, the (1991) Inter-Korean Basic Agreement and the (2018) Sept. 19 military agreement,” Lee Sung-jun, a spokesman for the JCS, told reporters. “It was a proportional response and an exercise of the right to self-defense … Article 51 (of Chapter VII) of the United Nations Charter guarantees the right to engage in self-defense, which will be investigated by the United Nations Command (UNC).”

The remarks came a day after the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) criticized Yoon for the retaliatory response it claimed was a violation of the military pact, under which the two sides agreed to cease hostile activities and take steps to build military trust.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but we all know that if the DPK still had President Moon in power they would be saying this is a great idea.

The Israeli system would further improve the ROK’s detection capabilities against drone attacks, but does not solve their inability to shoot them down:

 South Korea’s military is considering the purchase of an Israeli “electric eye” as part of efforts to bolster its capabilities to detect small North Korean drones, a defense source in Seoul said Sunday.

The move comes as the South’s defense authorities have come under fierce criticism for the failure to counter the penetration of five North Korean drones into its airspace late last month. It was belatedly revealed that one of them even intruded into the no-fly zone, called P-73, near the presidential office in the central district of Yongsan.

In order to beef up its airspace defense system, the military is considering pushing for the speedy acquisition of the Sky Spotter system, according to the source.

Built by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, it is designed for the early detection and tracking of such aerial objects, including drones, as well as balloons and kites, that are used for terrorist attacks.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Former President Moon is not happy about the criticism his administration has received from the current President:

 Former President Moon Jae-in has said his administration established a system to counter North Korean drone infiltrations, according to officials of the main opposition Democratic Party.

Moon made the remarks when DP leaders visited his home in the southeastern city of Yangsan on Monday, apparently in response to criticism from President Yoon Suk Yeol that the North’s recent drone infiltration revealed how Seoul’s military readiness and exercises have been “greatly lacking” over the years.

“Former President Moon said the government had introduced radars and prepared substantially with regard to countering drones,” a DP official who met Moon on Monday told Yonhap News Agency.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I have seen no one criticizing the detection capability. Clearly the ROK military did a good job detecting the drones which Moon’s administration should be given credit for acquiring. However, the inability to shoot them down to include crashing one of their own aircraft is what the criticism of the ROK military has been about.

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.

President Yoon appears to be highly upset that the ROK military has not developed the technology to counter North Korean drones:

President Yoon Suk Yeol berated Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup over the military’s failed operation against five North Korean drones that entered South Korean airspace earlier this week, officials said Wednesday.

Yoon met with Lee on Tuesday morning and was briefed on the military’s response to the North’s violation of South Korean airspace the previous day.

The drones flew across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas, with one flying over northern parts of Seoul, but the South Korean military failed to shoot them down.

“How can there be none preparing against North Korean drone attacks? There were many similar incidents in the past, so what have you been doing until now?” Yoon said during the meeting, according to one official who relayed the exchange.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Shooting down drones, especially high flying ones with out endangering civilian property is not easy, but it is also not impossible:

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday criticized the military’s response to North Korean drones that intruded across the inter-Korean border the previous day, saying the incident exposed some problems with South Korea’s readiness.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Yoon said the military should be better prepared for such intrusions by North Korean drones and vowed to create a military unit specializing in unmanned aerial vehicles as part of efforts to strengthen South Korea’s air defense capabilities.

“We have a plan to create a military drone unit tasked with monitoring key military facilities in North Korea. But we’ll expedite the process of creating the drone unit after the incident yesterday,” he said. “We’ll also introduce state-of-the art stealth drones to strengthen our surveillance capability.”

Yoon also voiced regret over the National Assembly’s decision to cut the military budget for anti-drone operations, saying the incident once again showed how dangerous it is to rely on North Korea’s “good faith” and paper agreements for peace.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it is amazing that funding for anti-drone operations was cut by the National Assembly. Drones is obviously the future of warfare. Their importance can be seen right now in the war in Ukraine. This incident should give President Yoon all the rationale he needs to pour money into the new drone command he wants to establish.

This is an easy provocation for the North Koreans to execute that disrupted flight operations at Incheon and Gimpo International Airports and had the added benefits of causing a South Korean aircraft to crash:

 Suspected North Korean drones crossed the inter-Korean border Monday without South Korea’s permission, officials here said, prompting the deployment of fighter jets, choppers and other assets to shoot them down.

The South’s military detected multiple “unidentified objects,” presumed to be unmanned aerial vehicles, in border areas of Gyeonggi Province from 10:25 a.m., according to an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The vehicles flew across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas, and were spotted flying in those areas in Gimpo, Ganghwa Island and Paju, leading to temporary suspensions of civilian flights.

The South issued warning messages, fired warning shots, and scrambled fighters, attack helicopters and other warplanes to remove them, while it remains unconfirmed whether the vehicles carry any weapons, the official said.

“We also identified them with our eyes,” the JCS official told reporters on condition of anonymity. “An operation is still ongoing against the vehicles.”

The military also deployed a KA-1 light attack aircraft, but for an unknown reason, it crashed in Hoengseong County, about 140 kilometers east of Seoul, at 11:39 a.m. Both of the pilots escaped safely.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I have always felt Incheon International Airport is an easy provocation target. It just seems like madness to build something so important to South Korea economically that close to the DMZ. Regardless it is there and North Korea can easily put pressure on the ROK by continuing to disrupt flight operations there if they want to with these low cost drones.