Korean Army to develop transportation drones for isolated troops

The Korean Army will develop "transportation drones" and start deploying them in 2018. Along with vehicles and cargo planes, the new transportation drones will be used to transport military supplies and relief cargoes.

The Army had a demonstration of a prototype drone developed by the Army and Korea Aerospace University, during the semiannual "Creative National Defense Eval‎uation Meeting" held in Gyeryongdae on Wednesday. During the demonstration, the drone flew with a 15-kg cargo filled with water bottles.

The Army and Korea Aerospace University are developing a drone that can fly 5 kilometers with a cargo that weighs up to 20 kilograms. They also plan to develop a drone that can stay in the air for 30 minutes and fly to a height of 500 meters stably. They also aim to design a drone that not only operates by remote control but also reads an input coordination and returns to the base after dropping cargos to target areas.

The Army will make a prototype transportation drone from September to October and deploy them to the first-line troops in 2018 after the army suitability eval‎uation and operational tests next year.

손효주기자 hjson@donga.com