Drones are no longer auxiliary military assets. The Ukraine War and the recent U.S.–Iran conflict demonstrate that warfare has entered an era of large-scale drone attrition, in which victory increasingly depends on the ability to produce, sustain, and continuously employ unmanned systems rather than on the performance of individual weapon platforms alone. Modern drone warfare is reshaping operational concepts, force structures, and national defense planning.

This transformation extends beyond the battlefield. Drones have evolved from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms into low-cost precision strike systems capable of disrupting an adversary’s decision-making process. By combining persistent surveillance with immediate strike capabilities, drones compress the interval between detection and engagement while imposing continuous operational and psychological pressure on defenders. In future conflicts, the side that can maintain this detect–decide–strike cycle under sustained attrition will possess a decisive operational advantage.

North Korea has become one of the fastest learners of these emerging trends. Drawing lessons from Russia’s war in Ukraine, Pyongyang is incorporating drone warfare into its military doctrine and force modernization efforts. Rather than attempting to compete directly with South Korea’s superior conventional military capabilities, North Korea seeks to exploit inexpensive loitering munitions, artificial intelligence, and mass production to create an asymmetric advantage. Drone operations are increasingly intended not merely to destroy targets, but also to delay decision-making, exhaust air-defense systems, and undermine the operational cohesion of allied forces.

This article is an English Summary of Asan Issue Brief (2026-15).

(‘한국의 드론 안보: 드론 전쟁의 보편화와 우리의 대응’, https://asaninst.org/bbs/board.php?bo_table=s1_1&wr_id=599)