On the 13th, inside the exhibition room of the Autonomous Vessel Performance Demonstration Center in Dong-gu, Ulsan, people's eyes remained on the maritime screen broadcast live by VTOL for reconnaissance and surveillance, which took off from Ocean Five, a multi-purpose self-defense barge and used as a drone carrier.
The drone, which detects and tracks enemies in real-time, is a large drone with a length of 4m and can fly for up to 3 hours at a speed of up to 80km/h. The target can be enlarged up to 40 times, enabling precise identification, and also equipped with electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) sensor cameras for satellites, which are originally used to track the path of Atlantic tuna swarms.
However, during the exercise, they were mobilized for maritime military operations and played the role of military drones to monitor and identify targets. This is because the Navy has begun training to verify the possibility of military operations of civilian drones for the first time in history as the importance of unmanned systems that can quickly mass-produce at low cost in times of crisis in modern warfare has been highlighted.
From May 12 to 16, the Navy is conducting a drill to verify the possibility of operating a commercial unmanned aerial system using unmanned watercraft and drones.
Three unmanned watercrafts, including the 69-ton Ocean Nuri and the 3-ton unmanned watercraft "AURA" developed for high-speed water leisure, 10 drones, including fixed-wing drones for detecting tuna fish on deep-sea fishing boats, commercial multicopter drones that can drop bombs and transport supplies, and corrugated cardboard drones that can be used as drones for self-destruction, and a civilian ship for drone carriers (attractors) will participate in the training.
The training consists of four stages: △ drone reconnaissance monitoring △ self-destructive drone maritime target strike △ ground target attack △ submarine drone maritime target attack △ maritime target attack using unmanned water boats. The Navy released some of the training images in a way that the media observed real-time monitoring of the training broadcast video at the Autonomous Ship Performance Demonstration Center.
The Navy will complete all exercises by the 16th and begin reviewing the military possibilities and suitability of civilian unmanned systems. As the possibility of military use of commercial unmanned systems, which have become essential forces in modern warfare, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, becomes increasingly important day by day, the plan is to reorganize the weapons system focusing on the suitability of converting military uses of private unmanned systems in times of crisis.
In addition, it plans to mass-produce civilian unmanned systems to be used in times of crisis to support military operations and efficiently operate military power to implement the "K-Replicator," a rapid replication system for weapons systems and equipment. Lieutenant Colonel Park, who led the training, said, "We will continue to develop operational mobilization plans using commercial drones and unmanned watercraft in the future."
Source : NEWS1 (https://www.news1.kr/diplomacy/defense-diplomacy/5782445)