'38 billion invested in unmanned vehicle technology development project in 2021
2.2 billion for 433MHz-based drone application communication technology
$6.6 billion new investment in technology to neutralize illegal drones


Last October, a group that flew a drone into a high-rise apartment late at night and filmed residents having sex was indicted by the prosecution. In addition to privacy invasions using the drone’s filming function, illegal acts using drones are occurring everywhere, such as paralyzing aircraft operations by illegally flying at airports.

On the 17th, the Ministry of Science and ICT finalized the '2021 Ministry of Science and ICT Unmanned Vehicle Technology Development Project Implementation Plan', which will invest 38 billion won. The scale of the project next year has increased by 41% compared to this year. Of this, 8.8 billion won will be invested in ▲development of illegal drone response technology and ▲development of non-visual long-distance drone communication technology.

The Ministry of Science and ICT, together with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the National Police Agency, will invest KRW 47.5 billion, KRW 18 billion and KRW 10 billion, respectively, from 2021 to 2025 in the development of intelligent countermeasure technology for illegal drones to respond to threatening acts using commercial drone products without special payloads such as weapons. Technological advancements to respond to attack drones equipped with weapons, etc. will be considered separately after the conclusion of this project.

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to develop technology to analyze the vulnerabilities of illegal drones and neutralize them in real time in order to build an integrated system that can respond to everything from discovery to post-discovery, including detection, identification, analysis, neutralization, and accident investigation of illegal drones. In addition, it plans to develop a ground-based response system using radar, EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infrared), etc., and integrate it with the entire system for verification.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to develop an investigation system for illegal drones by developing forensic technologies for real-time analysis of illegal drones and accident investigations, while the National Police Agency plans to develop drone cops, which patrol shaded areas and track and neutralize illegal drones when discovered, as air-based response systems.

The Ministry of Science and ICT will further expand its investment in the unmanned vehicle core technology development project (KRW 18.2 billion) and the DNA+ drone technology development project (KRW 9.6 billion) that began this year. The development of common parts that can be directly applied to unmanned vehicles of the land, sea, and air forces, and an integrated operation system for autonomous cooperation between multiple unmanned vehicles will begin in earnest. In addition, we plan to demonstrate a new drone business model that combines data, network, and AI technologies using actual drones.

In addition, for safe and convenient drone operation, we plan to continuously promote the 'development of low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle traffic management system technology' by investing 2 billion won together with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (3.7 billion won) and the National Police Agency (1.8 billion won). In addition, to support the growth of small and medium-sized unmanned vehicle companies with poor conditions, we plan to continuously support the development of unmanned vehicles that reflect the needs of public institutions and link them with public procurement (3 billion won in 2021) in cooperation with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Public Procurement Service.

We will begin developing 433MHz-based communication technology for low-altitude, non-visual-line-of-sight long-distance operation of unmanned vehicles (KRW 2 billion), and support the establishment of a plan to build an education system to foster convergence and multidisciplinary talents required in the domestic unmanned vehicle industry (KRW 200 million).

Kim Bong-soo, director of the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Basic Research Policy Bureau, said, “In order to respond to the diversifying illegal drone activities, it is urgent to secure related technologies such as the development of a system that can neutralize them,” and “We will strive to organically link policies and projects for securing basic technologies related to unmanned vehicles, developing business models and markets, and expanding infrastructure.”