Jang also highlighted the South Korean military’s personnel shortage, particularly among noncommissioned officers and officers who were expected to help train new troops to use drones.
lessons from ukraine
It’s worth noting that Ukraine, which has been a model for many countries’ military reform efforts, does not field a military where everyone is trained to be a drone pilot – although Ukraine has ramped up training to produce thousands of drone operators.
Instead, effective use of military drones in Ukraine comes from widely deploying specialized drone operator teams to support front-line infantry units, standing up the Army’s Unmanned Systems Force branch to develop drone doctrine and coordinate deep strike operations, creating a digital battle management system that provides updated battlefield information for rapid decision making, and developing a domestic drone industry that can mass-produce millions of drones each year while intelligently innovating in response to changing battlefield conditions. Can produce.
Meanwhile, North Korean soldiers who survived the Ukrainian drone war while fighting on Russia’s side are already returning home to instruct North Korean forces. However it is less clear what kind of training they will be providing to their comrades.
Also, South Korean soldiers are not alone in facing North Korean forces. As a legacy of the US military intervention in South Korea during the Korean War, which began with the North Korean invasion, there are currently 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.
Taking its cues from Ukraine’s drone innovations, the US military is also integrating drone familiarization and counter-drone measures into basic training for its own new recruits, while the Pentagon has requested $54 billion for new drones and counter-drone systems in its fiscal year 2027 budget.
<a href