North Korea as it is known as a belligerent nation that defies the mightiest power in the world - the USA, now focuses on developing a long-endurance aerial drone with greater capabilities, South Korean media reports Sunday.
The Yonhap news agency said with advanced means of technologies Pyongyang is aiming to build long-endurance aerial drones to boost its weapons arsenal.
An official source said that the ‘unmanned aerial vehicle’ (UAV) in undergoing flight testing is larger than those currently in service in the North. Last week the North Korea’s Chosun Central TV had announced that the Kim Jong-un regime is set to unveil the latest version of the UAV.
The media outlet did not provide clear images of the actual drone but claimed to have tracking capabilities and the ability to carry out real-time observation. It also said the machine can be used to check the atmosphere, detect forest fires and observe fishing grounds.
South Korea estimates that the North has some 300 observation drones and around 10 that are war in some way armed having capability of conducting attacks with weapons. Past reports have shown that Pyongyang is even building a multipurpose UAV.
According to the International Business Time, without revealing the specifics of the operations Seoul had detected several such drones taking flight in 2016, said the official who did not want to be identified.
According to the RT online, Pyongyang unveiled its attack drone in 2013 on the 60th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the Korean War.
South Korean military experts also say that the North may be upgrading drones that it brought in from China and the USSR in the past.
Local military experts also said that based on the information provided, the North may be upgrading drones it initially brought in from China and the Soviet Union in the past by making them bigger, heavier and more useful in terms of range and capabilities.
"The North clearly seems to be interested in building its own UAV to replace the old imported machines and copies of these drones that have crashed in South Korean territory in the past," a Korea Defense and Security Forum source said.
The South Korean military said at the end of November that it is building a device to counter the North’s drones called an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) – a high-powered, directional generator capable of disabling drones.
Meanwhile, Seoul is continuing to develop other anti-drone weapons, including a GPS jamming device and miniature rockets capable of taking down UAVs, according to Yonhap news agency.
South Korea has recently urged the military to initiate a new generation of defence systems to tackle North Korean drones. This includes using laser weapons to shoot down inbound aerial vehicles.
North Korea is known to have sent several drones, sometimes beyond its territorial airspace, as part of its activities. In the recent past, the South is believed to have detected incursions from Pyongyang-operated drones on at least five occasions but none of them were shot down.
Several suspected North Korean UAVs have been found in places like Paju, Baengnyeong Island and Samcheok in the past, although Pyongyang has denied ownership of such machines, reports the International Business Time online.
To counter such threats, South Korea is in the process of using concentrated electromagnetic pulse devices to disable and bring the drones down.
U.S. intelligence agencies say Pyongyang will likely conduct a new salvo of missile launches following the latest round of United Nations sanctions against the reclusive communist state, according to the Washington Post online.
The world organization on Dec. 1 imposed additional sanctions that seek to block North Korea’s revenue obtained from exports by 25 percent. The sanctions bar member-states from purchasing North Korean copper, nickel, silver and zinc exports, and the sale of large statues, a favored purchase for African dictators. The sanctions followed a recent North Korean underground nuclear test.
In the past, Pyongyang responded to similar sanctions with provocative missile launches.
The most recent missile test in North Korea was a failed launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile called the Musudan in October with an estimated range of 2,000 miles.
The Pentagon and Japan took this development and capacity as alarm. Officials said the next missile test could be a Musudan launch to counteract the earlier test failure.
News Source : live-news24
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