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South Korea's Ministry of Defense plans to purchase 1,000 more drones by 2027


According to an article published on the janes website on September 29, 2021, the Ministry of National Defense of South Korea announced at the "Defence AI and Unmanned Systems Development Council" meeting on September 29, 2021: The previous purchase of 1,000 drones for the South Korean armed forces.


One of the goals of this decision is to use the progress of the commercial drone market to promote and expand the country's military drone industry. Specifically, the South Korean Ministry of Defense plans to spend 34.2 billion won (29 million US dollars) in 2022 to purchase 600 domestically developed drones, and increase the number to 1,000 by 2027.

On the same day, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense also announced that it had allocated 179.1 billion won from the 2022 fiscal year budget to invest in artificial intelligence-enabled technologies and programs to promote projects across various defense departments. South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense has proposed that artificial intelligence will become a key enabling factor in the future combat environment, and South Korea’s upcoming research activities will focus on artificial intelligence-based ultra-small surveillance and reconnaissance drones.

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense revealed in early August 2021 that it plans to increase the budget for purchasing domestic drones by more than six times within one year. The National Defense Acquisition and Planning Administration (DAPA) of the Ministry of National Defense recently announced the procurement of vertical take-off and landing drones, including the procurement of domestic "grenade-launched" drones for the Korean Army (RoKA), and the Korean Air Force (RoKAF) and The Navy (RoKN) purchases its own "small modular" drones.

FlyDragon Gasoline Hybrid VTOL UAV—FD180P

Specifications:

Body length 3.35m
Wingspan 6.5m
Maximum takeoff weight 180kg
Maximum payload 40kg
Endurance 8h~10h
Flight radius 300-500km
(depending on the amount of oil loaded)
Maximum control distance Remote control (manual control): 1km
Ground station control (depending on the distance of the digital transmission): 30km standard
Maximum speed 130km/h
Cruising speed 100-120km/h
Maximum oil load 40L
Lift limit 5000m
Maximum wind resistance 12m/s(6 level winds)
Use environment -10℃+45℃; anti-light rain
Vertical takeoff and landing 32*8000mAh-6S Li battery
Takeoff and landing mode Vertical takeoff and landing