South Korea’s Killer Drones: New Frontier in Defense Against North Korea – Part 3

Arm on the back and dispatch the target

Suicide drones are being developed and operated in many countries worldwide, including the United States, Russia, China, and Europe. However, the country that pioneered this field is Israel. The world’s first suicide drone is believed to be Israel’s Delilah, developed in the 1980s. Unlike cruise missiles, where the target is input before launch, Delilah was designed to scout the target area before identifying the specific target by the drone’s weapon controller. For this reason, it was also called a loitering missile.

Based on this, the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)’s Harpy heralded the era of full-fledged suicide drones. The |A| Harpy was designed to charge in the direction of an enemy radar signal and destroy enemy radar equipment by self-detonating. It was sold to Turkey, India, China, etc., and it is known that our country has also introduced about 100 units.

The Harpy is 8.9 feet long, with a drone weight of 297.6 lbs. It has a warhead weight of 33 lbs and a cruising range of 310.7 miles. Later, IAI developed the Harop, an improved version of the |A| Harpy, and exported it to various countries. The |A| Harop was known to have been used by Azerbaijan to attack Armenian military posts in the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict in 2016.

The United States has also been deploying and using small suicide drones in actual combat since the 2010s. The U.S. Army introduced the Switchblade small suicide drone from AeroVironment Inc. 2011. In May 2012, it was reported that the U.S. Marine Corps also introduced the Switchblade for immediate attacks when they discovered IED (Improvised Explosive Device) planting teams.

In 2017, the use of the Switchblade by U.S. Special Operations Command personnel in ISIS (Islamic State) operations was also revealed. Military experts said, “The U.S. military’s Switchblade has been used as a useful countermeasure against enemy snipers and mortars in situations where immediate close air support cannot be received in the mountainous Afghanistan.”

The Switchblade is 24 inches long, has a drone weight of 6 lbs conveyed in a tube, and can fly up to a maximum of 6.2 miles, with a flight time of only about 10 minutes. It has a color camera and GPS to transmit real-time images, identify the target, and dive and self-detonate on the operator’s command. The explosive power is at the level of a hand grenade.

Development of unmanned attack aircraft equipped with bombs and missiles

The South Korean military authorities are also pushing for the introduction of various domestic small suicide drones. Domestic companies such as Hanwha Aerospace and LIG Nex1 are also launching domestic development based on advanced country products, one of the models being the Switchblade used by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. Developed by U.S. AeroVironment, the Switchblade has already been utilized in several actual battles, such as the Afghan war and the anti-IS operation, and its power has been verified.

A domestic unmanned aircraft similar to the U.S.’s Reaper has also reached the stage of development completion. It is a domestic medium-altitude unmanned aircraft (MUAV) that Korean Air is expanding. The prototype was completed in 2011 and is expected to be finalized soon. Although it is currently an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft that only has surveillance and reconnaissance functions, it is expected to be upgraded to an unmanned attack aircraft equipped with bombs and missiles like the Reaper.

This model is 42.7 feet long and 82 feet wide and can be operated at a maximum altitude of 8.1 miles. The flight time is up to 24 hours, and Middle Eastern countries have shown interest in importing this MUAV.

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