[Exclusive] 9 out of 10 Military Drones Fly Without Insurance

On the 18th, the Army DroneBot Combat System was demonstrated at the 'Korea Defense Industry Exhibition' held at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] It has been revealed that only one out of ten military unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) are covered by liability insurance. According to the amended "Aviation Business Act" passed by the National Assembly in May last year, public institutions are required to subscribe to insurance to ensure smooth compensation in case of drone crashes or collision accidents involving drones they own.

According to the military on the 4th, the Army currently possesses a total of 1,067 drones, including 107 for surveillance, 612 for education and training, and 297 for combat experiments. Among these, only 123 drones used for education and training are insured. This means that only 11.5% of all drones are covered by insurance. Since the military plans to introduce 16 additional types of drones, there are calls to comply with insurance subscription requirements to prepare for possible accidents.

Measures for battalion-level unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other unmanned aircraft deployed in the Army are also urgent. As drone crashes continue, measures such as insurance subscription are necessary. The Army decided to introduce the RemoEye from domestic defense company Yukon System in 2011. At that time, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration explained, "The RemoEye, developed purely with indigenous technology over three years starting in 2012, can perform missions for over an hour at a top speed of 80 km/h and transmit real-time footage shot from 300 to 500 meters altitude to the ground. It is equipped with automatic flight, automatic return, and real-time day and night video transmission functions, making it comparable to small drones from the U.S. and Israel."

However, the number of RemoEye crashes has been increasing every year. In 2015, the year it was introduced, there were nine crash incidents, followed by 11 in 2016, and 13 crashes each in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Up to September last year, there were 12 crash incidents.

The problem lies in the causes of the crashes. The Army concluded that all nine crashes in 2015 were due to operator inexperience. However, crashes caused by unknown defects continued afterward. There were only four such cases in 2017, but five in 2018, and eight last year. This year alone, three crashes with unknown causes have occurred, and nine incidents are still under investigation, suggesting that the number of crashes with unknown causes will increase. The military estimates that the crashed UAVs had equipment defects such as loss of control during flight, onboard communication device failure, servo motor malfunction, thrust motor stoppage during flight, and GPS signal loss, but the exact causes have not been identified.

As unknown defects continue, repair costs are also rising. The free repair period for UAVs introduced by the Army is three years. However, since last year, the number of models whose free repair period has ended has increased, and repair costs, which were only 160 million KRW in 2018, have risen to 790 million KRW. It is estimated that over 812 million KRW was spent on repairs last year alone.

An Army official stated, "Guidelines and implementation plans related to insurance subscription for public-use unmanned aircraft are being prepared by the relevant departments of the Ministry of National Defense," and added, "The Army plans to proceed according to the Ministry of National Defense's guidelines."