We plan to start construction in all three locations—Goseong, Boeun, and Yeongwol—this month.
The test site is scheduled to begin trial operations once completed at the end of this year.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is commencing construction of a dedicated drone flight test site that will comprehensively provide test spaces and specialized facilities to support private sector drone flight testing.

In order to foster the domestic drone industry and research safety standards, seven dedicated airspaces for drone pilot projects have been secured and demonstration projects are underway (since February 2016); however, with the exception of the Goheung region where the National Comprehensive Flight Test Center is being established, there has been a lack of specialized facilities for various drone flight tests and pilot operations.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has been pursuing the establishment of a dedicated drone flight test site equipped with safety, control, testing, and maintenance facilities to test and verify the flight safety and operational performance of prototypes during the research, development, and commercialization processes of drones.

Construction of the first dedicated flight test site is scheduled to begin on the 15th of this month in Goseong, Gyeongnam, followed by Boeun, Chungbuk (May 25) and Yeongwol, Gangwon (May 31). Goseong is an airspace that includes an inland sea and has a runway (200m), making it possible to conduct flight tests of unmanned aerial vehicles weighing over 150kg, and it is expected that various tests in conjunction with nearby national flight facilities will also be easy.

Boeun is an airspace located at the foot of Mt. Songni that is suitable for flight testing of drones for mountain search and rescue and forest disaster prevention, while Yeongwol is located along the Namhan River (within a radius of 5.5 km) and is expected to be a popular location for drone testing for long-distance flights.

With the installation of specialized equipment for drone flight testing, such as radar and video trackers, within the flight test facility, it is expected that safe tracking and monitoring of high-performance drones during beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BV) and long-distance flights will become possible.

In addition, environmental and propulsion test facilities, electromagnetic test facilities, and wind resistance test facilities are also planned to be constructed to verify whether the finished aircraft can perform under various weather conditions.

The test facility is scheduled to begin pilot operations in conjunction with the completion of the control center (at the end of this year), and plans are in place to prioritize the operation and provision of flight surveillance equipment (video trackers) and finished aircraft performance testing equipment (propulsion and wind resistance test facilities, etc.) to facility users.

Starting in 2020, the test site will be fully operational. The operational personnel will review and approve flight test plans, analyze and provide feedback on flight test results through real-time monitoring, and conduct safety training for users of the flight test site.

An official from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated, “With the commencement of construction on the dedicated drone flight test site, we have taken the first step in establishing specialized testing facilities necessary for the commercialization of drones. In particular, if the private sector effectively utilizes the flight test site, we expect it to have a significant impact on future drone technology development and industrial growth.”