South Korea to accelerate deployment of long-range suicide drones amid evolving warfare

South Korea will accelerate the deployment of a domestically developed long-range suicide drone system as part of a broader effort to strengthen its unmanned warfare capabilities, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said Friday.

Speaking at a press briefing, Ahn said modern warfare has been transformed by the widespread use of low-cost drones, while North Korea continues to expand its own unmanned aerial capabilities, posing growing risks to military forces, critical infrastructure and civilian facilities, according to Yonhap News.

“We will accelerate the fielding of the Korean style long-range loitering munition, the K-Lucas, which can be strategically utilized in modern warfare,” Ahn said.

The K-Lucas is a long-range loitering munition, or suicide drone, designed to hover over a target before striking and destroying itself on impact.

The system is reported to have been reverse-engineered from Iran’s Shahed-136 drone, which has been widely used in recent conflicts.

South Korea also plans to acquire more than 20,000 low-cost drones, including reconnaissance and loitering munitions, by 2030, while developing next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence-powered drone swarms.

Ahn also reaffirmed the goal of training 500,000 “drone warriors,” aiming to ensure all service members can operate drones.