South Korea Plans Massive Drone Training Program for 500,000 Personnel

The entire Korean armed forces will undergo comprehensive training to qualify as drone operators as part of a sweeping transformation of its combat doctrine, the defence minister announced.

‘Every soldier must be able to wield drones as proficiently as a personal firearm,’ Ahn Gyu‑back, head of the defence ministry in Seoul, stated on Friday.

The initiative envisions training 500,000 authorized service members from the army, navy, air force and marines to become ‘drone warriors,’ the ministry explained.

Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have demonstrated that drones now constitute a decisive battlefield advantage, Ahn noted.

‘Deploying inexpensive drones at scale is fundamentally reshaping warfare,’ Ahn remarked, warning that North Korea continues to expand its weapons capabilities, thereby heightening threats to both military and civilian infrastructure in the South.

The armed forces intend to acquire approximately 11,000 commercial drones for training by year‑end, scaling to 60,000 by 2029, and to field over 20,000 low‑cost disposable combat drones by 2030.

Seoul also announced that it will fast‑track a domestically developed long‑range loitering munition named K‑Lucas. The system draws its name and concept from the U.S. Lucas low‑cost unmanned combat attack drone, which was reverse‑engineered from Iran’s Shahed‑136 suicide drone extensively used by Russia in Ukraine.

The plan further includes expanding counter‑drone capabilities, such as laser and high‑power microwave weapons.

This announcement comes amid heightened concern over North Korea’s drone capabilities and follows a deeply embarrassing 2022 incident in which five North Korean drones penetrated South Korean airspace.

One entered the no‑fly zone above the presidential office in Seoul. The military scrambled jets and attack helicopters and fired roughly 100 rounds, failing to down a single drone.

North Korea’s drone capabilities have expanded markedly, partly through its deepening military partnership with Russia, which analysts say has granted Pyongyang battlefield data and tactics that would otherwise have taken years to acquire.

Pyongyang has deployed thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, providing its military with direct exposure to large‑scale drone warfare.

North Korea announced on Friday that leader Kim Jong‑un had overseen tests of tactical ballistic missiles and an upgraded rocket‑artillery system with a 90‑km range, which Pyongyang said was part of efforts to bolster firepower along its southern border.

Kim, meanwhile, has pledged to expand North Korea’s nuclear arsenal at what he described as an “exponential rate,” calling nuclear expansion the “most correct and unique” response to an “increasingly unstable world.”

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