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| The U.S. Air Force's Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle / Wikipedia |
By Oh Young-jin
South Korea's military plans to launch a "drone-bot" unit at an Army division level and surveillance air wings using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on the Navy's Aegis mobile battle group and at the Air Force.
This emphasis on the drone force improvement was included as part of the Defense Ministry's military reform agenda, which was reported to the National Assembly, Tuesday.
The ministry's parliamentary report contains the planned merger of the First Army in Wonju and Third Army in Yongin to inaugurate the ground operations command that also controls drone operations.
The drone units will be tasked with monitoring and neutralizing key enemy targets such as the North's military command and control system, ballistic missile capabilities and long-range artillery units.
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| The Global Hawk can replace Lockheed Martin's legendary U-2 spy aircraft. / Lockheed Martin |
The Air Force's drone surveillance wing will be responsible for middle- and high-altitude operations.
A total of six Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawks _ two this year and four the next _ are scheduled to be imported.
The Global Hawk is a high-altitude surveillance asset that can recognize an object with 0.3 meters in size on the ground from an altitude of 20 kilometers, taking over the role of Lockheed Martin's manned reconnaissance aircraft, the U-2.
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