Korea has effectively abandoned its plan to acquire 36 additional Apache attack helicopters, shifting its defense priorities toward unmanned systems and advanced technologies in response to evolving trends in modern warfare.
Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/defense/20250706/korea-opts-out-of-apache-helicopters-betting-on-drones-and-ai
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Ukraine done changed the game
On one hand good on them for not giving the US more money, on the other hand I hope they have some low cost aircraft platforms to help with big drone waves. Drone interceptors seem to be taking off but it’s good to have layers.
That money is going to the US either way, south korea military is still a branch of the US military.
Their citizenry can hear the choppers coming long before they’d notice a drone… 🤔
The entirety of North Korea is covered in anti-air emplacements, hundreds of them. You can see them all over on Google maps. Small drones are a much better idea than helicopters that would rely on something else taking out the SAM sites first.
Yeah, it’s always “for defense” first… or, did you forget 9/11? 🤪
Other nations are not always as shitty as the US. Public sentiment in South Korea has always been for the reunification of the peninsula in peaceful relations. Many people have relatives they used to be able to go see until things broke down several years ago.
South Korea does not want to invade the north. Especially since the north has 10k artillery guns sighted on Seoul, and if hostilities break out again, the entire capital will be destroyed and many thousands of South Koreans will die, perhaps hundreds of thousands.
Fair point on peace.
