Page 11 - ADT SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2021 Online Magazine

Unmanned and country’s National Assembly that Seoul would [ UNMANNED SYSTEMS ]
be spending an additional 7 per cent this year
to boost defence expenditure to more than 50
trillion won (US$42 billion), as part of a larger
Dangerous plan to invest 290.5 trillion won by 2024. The
proposed new weapons programmes include
building a range of unmanned capabilities
across its land, air, and naval services, and
formulating operational requirements for them.
The South Korean Defence Ministry controlled
Agency for Defence Development (ADD)
SOUTH KOREA’S NEW WEAPONS PROGRAMMES recently developed core technologies such as
INCLUDE BUILDING A RANGE OF UAVS aerial structure design and flight control algo-
rithms for low-observable, tailless unmanned
aerial vehicles. The development is expected
Jay Menon to accelerate the stealthy Kaori-X UAV demon-
strator that was unveiled by the ADD in August
2020. The ADD had acquired core technol-
The perpetual military standoff on the Korean Peninsula has geared ogies for tailless drones through a five-year
South Korea to modernise its military. The South Korean govern- project that began in 2016. The agency also
ment recently published a draft budget for 2022 and a medium-term created a miniature version of the drone for
national defence plan for the period of 2022 to 2026. The country's flight tests and demonstrated flight control
defence spending will grow 4.5 per cent from 2021 to 55.23 trillion algorithms.
won (US$47.27 billion) in 2022. The latest defence budget and the
medium-term plan are clearly focused on countering the security
threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
"WE WILL FOCUS ON THE UPGRADE
UAVs in Prime Position OF TECHNOLOGIES FOR LOW-
After announcing the largest single-year increase in military spend- OBSERVABLE AERIAL VEHICLES,"
ing in a decade last year, President Moon Jae-in recently told the an ADD spokesman says.

ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY September / October 2021 | 11