Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
Mini drones to monitor NK border units
RemoEye-002B
By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
The Ministry of National defense said Wednesday that indigenous mini drones will be deployed with Army and Marine border units to monitor North Korean units.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) held an event to celebrate initial production of the RemoEye-002Bs in Daejeon the same day.
“From this year to 2017, RemoEye-002Bs will be deployed with border infantry units of the 1st and 3rd Army, as well as units of the Marine Corps,” the ministry said in a release.
The small unmanned aerial vehicle is 1.4 meters long and 1.8 meters wide.
It can carry out a mission to send images to a ground station in real time for more than an hour; and has a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour, the ministry said.
The development of the drone was started in 2012, and it is programmed for automatic fly and return in day or night.
“The RemoEye-002B’s performance can be compared to that of drones from the United States and Israel,” the DAPA said in a release. “It also is priced competitively, raising export possibilities.”
Won Ho-joon, who is in charge of drone projects at DAPA, said, “The RemoEye-002B is expected to considerably improve the combat capabilities of troops as it enables them to strike the enemy after observation from the air in advance.”
The Army said during a National Assembly audit that it is operating a unit tasked with responding to incursions by North Korean drones.
Last year, three spy drones, which Seoul and Washington authorities concluded belonged to the North, were found crashed in the South’s territory.
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