The Defense Drone Headquarters, a unit directly under the Ministry of National Defense tasked with overseeing the military drone sector, has officially launched.

The Ministry of National Defense held an inauguration ceremony today (November 2) at the Defense Drone Headquarters in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, attended by Vice Defense Minister Lee Doo-hee, key military commanders, defense officials, and unit members.

The Defense Drone Headquarters is tasked with leading combat development, capability enhancement, and technological innovation in the drone and counter-drone sectors at the national defense level.

Its role is to present a defense-wide development roadmap for drone and counter-drone capabilities applicable across all armed services.

Key responsibilities include analyzing recent warfare patterns and battlefield environments to advance drone operational concepts, and testing and demonstrating the military applicability of cutting-edge drone technologies in the operational environment of the Korean Peninsula to support the swift fielding of capabilities.

It is also tasked with establishing a certification system to repurpose commercial drones for military use, standardizing components, and improving operational and management regulations.

In addition, it serves a civil-military cooperation function by linking advanced private-sector technologies with military operational requirements to revitalize the domestic drone industrial ecosystem.

To this end, dedicated departments for combat development, demonstration management, acquisition support, and civil-military cooperation have been organized within the Defense Drone Headquarters.


The headquarters has also established a certification and procurement framework modeled after the U.S. "Blue UAS" (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) program to localize military drones and allow the armed forces to swiftly procure commercially certified drones.

It will also pursue component standardization and supply chain sharing with allies such as the United States to reduce reliance on Chinese-made core components, including batteries and motors.

Furthermore, it has laid out plans to participate in the Joint Chiefs of Staff's requirement review process to coordinate and prevent overlapping projects across different service branches in advance, planning unified capabilities across the entire military to prevent redundant investment and accelerate operational deployment.

However, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) will continue to handle acquisition duties, such as procurement, contracting, and quality certification, for capabilities whose requirements have been finalized.

The launch of the Defense Drone Headquarters is a follow-up measure to the "Defense Drone and Counter-Drone Development Policy" announced in June.

Accordingly, the "Decree on the Defense Drone Headquarters" was promulgated on October 20, and the Defense Drone Headquarters was officially established the previous day, on November 1.

The Drone Operations Command, its predecessor that primarily conducted military operations, has been disbanded.

Established in 2023 under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, the Drone Operations Command had faced criticism since its inception that it was hastily formed without adequate preparation in response to the December 2022 North Korean drone airspace intrusion.

In particular, controversy over its abolition intensified after investigations and court proceedings related to the December 3 martial law incident revealed that the Drone Operations Command was mobilized in the so-called "Pyongyang drone infiltration" incident in October 2024.

Ultimately, after a joint civilian-government-military special advisory committee formed under the Lee Jae-myung administration recommended disbanding the command and establishing a functional headquarters in January, the command closed its doors after approximately three years.

Operational missions previously carried out by the Drone Operations Command, such as strike operations, have been transferred to operational units under the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff will exercise integrated command and control over drone operations distributed across each branch.

Under this plan, target strikes will be linked with artillery and aviation assets, while drone defense will be organically integrated with each military branch's existing air defense networks.

Addressing concerns that eliminating a dedicated drone command might weaken operational drone capabilities, the Ministry of National Defense stressed, "In the future, winning on the battlefield requires building a foundation where drones can be operated as universally as secondary personal firearms," adding, "By enabling all units to conduct drone operations, this will further strengthen the drone operational capabilities of the entire military."

With operational, logistics, and combat support functions scaled down from the former Drone Operations Command headquarters, the authorized strength of the Defense Drone Headquarters was drastically reduced from approximately 280 personnel to around 100.

However, along with personnel from the former command, capability development practitioners from each service branch and acquisition specialists from DAPA have been assigned, resulting in more than half of the total authorized personnel being filled by field-grade officers or higher.

The proportion of field-grade officers and higher within the unit jumped to about three times the previous level (approximately 17%), thereby enhancing working-level expertise.

The position of chief of the Defense Drone Headquarters is slated to be held by a major general, the same rank as the former Drone Operations Commander.

During the initial stage of its establishment, the current Drone Operations Commander will carry out the duties.
 
(Photo: Yonhap News)