Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Korea launches joint drone headquarters
Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back listens to a briefing on a training drone during a visit to the Army's 36th Infantry Division, Sept. 4, 2025. Courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
By Bahk Eun-ji
Defense ministry plans UAV training for all 500,000 service members
The Ministry of National Defense unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the military’s drone operations Friday, shifting combat responsibilities from a centralized drone command to individual service branches while creating a new defense drone headquarters under the ministry.
Under the restructuring, operational control of drone units will be distributed across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. The existing drone operations command headquarters will be reorganized into a defense drone headquarters focused on force development, procurement support and cooperation with the private sector — no longer commanding combat units directly.
Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said recent conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East had demonstrated that drones had become game changers on the battlefield.
“In the past, a small number of expensive weapons systems dominated the battlefield. Now, large numbers of low-cost drones are fundamentally changing the way wars are fought,” Ahn said.
Ahn said the policy is intended to strengthen the military’s defense capabilities against unmanned aerial vehicles while also supporting the growth of Korea’s domestic drone industry.
The ministry’s new defense drone and counter-drone development policy focuses on four priorities: rapidly expanding drone and counter-drone capabilities, training 500,000 service members to operate drones, fostering the domestic drone industry and strengthening drone operations across the armed forces.
Previously, surveillance and reconnaissance drones were largely operated by individual services, while strike drones were concentrated under the drone operations command. Under the new structure, subordinate drone units will be reassigned to operational commands within each service, allowing the four branches to conduct surveillance, reconnaissance and strike missions with their own drone assets.
The defense drone headquarters, now reporting directly to the ministry, will take on broader responsibilities.
“Its mission is changing, not shrinking,” a defense ministry official said during a background briefing. “Operational planning and control functions will be transferred to the services, while the headquarters will concentrate on developing drone concepts, supporting acquisitions and serving as the military’s hub for drone innovation.”
Officials said the restructuring reflects lessons learned from Ukraine, where drones initially operated by dedicated units were gradually integrated into divisions, brigades and battalions as the war evolved.
“Different services require different types of drones and different operating concepts,” the official said. “Rather than having a single command control everything, it is more practical for each service to develop and employ drone capabilities tailored to its own missions.”
Alongside the organizational overhaul, the ministry plans to procure more than 20,000 low-cost expendable drones, including short-range reconnaissance drones and loitering munitions.
The ministry plans to accelerate deployment of the Korean version of the Long-range Uncrewed Combat Attack System, or K-LUCAS, by simplifying development requirements where possible, the official said.
It is also seeking separate legislation establishing a faster acquisition framework for rapidly evolving technologies such as drones.
The official said the current acquisition system, designed for conventional weapons programs, is too rigid for technologies that evolve within weeks.
“Rather than defining every performance requirement in advance, we want to adopt an approach that allows equipment to be fielded first and upgraded continuously based on operational feedback,” he said.
Officials also clarified that the “500,000 drone warriors” initiative involves training all service members, rather than acquiring 500,000 drones.
“This figure represents the size of the military, not the number of drones,” said the ministry official. “The goal is for every service member to be able to operate drones just as they use personal firearms.”
The ministry plans to introduce about 11,000 training drones this year and around 60,000 by 2029, enough to provide roughly one training drone for each squad.
“Drone operations should no longer be the responsibility of a single command, but a standard capability across the military,” the official said.