North Korea’s Kim Orders Drone Buildup In Push For “Absolute Superiority” In Unmanned Warfare

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that supreme leader Kim Jong Un attended an exhibition featuring intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) drones and a variety of one-way attack drones.

In a speech at the exhibition, leader Kim focused on the urgent need to seize “absolute superiority in drone technology” and revealed unspecified steps needed to “rapidly expand and strengthen unmanned aeronautical technology.”

Belgium-based defense news website Army Recognition stated:

North Korea has displayed a new flying-wing drone alongside large reconnaissance aircraft, armed unmanned platforms, loitering munitions and first-person-view attack systems, highlighting a broader effort to modernize its military drone fleet. The exhibition, attended by Kim Jong-un, was accompanied by missile launches and heavy rocket fire designed to demonstrate how unmanned systems could support strikes against South Korean and US military targets.

Army Recognition highlighted a live-fire demonstration at the event that used a North Korean one-way attack drone to target a mock US M1 Abrams.

The outlet continued:

North Korea also presented several loitering munitions resembling the Israeli Harop and Hero families, alongside an anti-armor design comparable in appearance to the American Switchblade 600. Demonstrations included attacks against simulated South Korean guard posts, K9 self-propelled howitzers, counterbattery radars and US M1 Abrams tanks. These aircraft were accompanied by lightweight expendable drones, large numbers of first-person-view (FPV) quadcopters and systems apparently equipped with fiber-optic cable dispensers.

The modernization of North Korea’s defense force with drones comes as the US is urgently seeking to unleash a massive procurement supercycle worth $1.5 trillion, with $75 billion allocated to drones and counter-drone technologies. However, that effort may face major headwinds if Democrats sweep the midterms, potentially delaying or drastically reducing funding intended to prepare the US military for these emerging threats.