How much will South Korea spend on drone defense
After the North Korean incursion, mismanaged by the army, South Korea has announced a plan to spend 441 million on anti-drone weapons. All the details
Five North Korean drones entered South Korea's territory on Monday. It was the first such intrusion since 2017, and the Seoul military had to use fighter jets and attack helicopters to try to bring them down.
PRESIDENT YOON'S ANSWER
Two days later, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative, said Seoul should react without hesitation to any provocation from Pyongyang, despite its northern neighbor possessing nuclear weapons.
Yoon's press office said South Korea must “punish and respond to any provocation from North Korea. It is the most powerful means of discouraging provocations. We need not fear or hesitate because North Korea possesses nuclear weapons."
SOUTH KOREAN DRONES IN NORTH KOREA
There was, in fact, an answer: on Monday, South Korea in turn sent drones to North Korea for about three hours. Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup spoke in parliament on Wednesday to say that Yoon ordered him to send the drones even at the cost of causing an escalation.
CRITICISM OF THE SOUTH KOREAN ARMY
The North Korean intrusion cost South Korea's military and national air defenses major criticisms. The president himself reproached the military for failing to shoot down the drones, which flew over South Korean territory for hours. The armed forces apologized, claiming they were unable to shoot down the aircraft because they were too small.
HOW ARE THE SEUL-PYONGYANG RELATIONS GOING
Relations between the two Koreas have been tense for decades, but they have become more complicated since last May, when the Yoon government took office, which promised a tough approach towards Pyongyang, very far from the so-called Sunshine Policy of détente adopted by its predecessor Moon Jae-in.
North Korea has conducted several missile tests this year, and is thought to carry out the seventh test of a nuclear weapon.
SOUTH KOREA WILL STRENGTHEN ITS AIR DEFENSES
The South Korean Defense Ministry on Wednesday announced a $441.2 million five-year spending plan to boost the country's drone defense capabilities. The program involves the development of an airborne laser weapon and a jammer, a device used to jam communications.
In addition, Seoul will ramp up its drone squadrons to three and work to procure more stealth fighter jets and ballistic missile submarines and develop rocket interception systems.
HIT NORTH KOREA AT ANY POINT
In a statement, the defense ministry said South Korea will strengthen "the retaliatory capability so as to be able to destroy critical facilities anywhere in North Korea, in the event of a nuclear attack or the use of mass destruction weapons".
TOTAL DEFENSE EXPENDITURE
In total, the Defense Ministry aims to spend a sum of 331.4 trillion won (about 261 billion dollars) on the sector over five years, with an average annual increase of 6.8 percent.
In 2022, South Korea's defense budget totaled 54.6 trillion won.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/corea-del-sud-difesa-droni/ on Mon, 02 Jan 2023 06:16:37 +0000.