Military Faces Difficulties Searching for Drone Debris Shot Down at 'THAAD Base'

Army announced drone shootdown on the 17th
If US forces do not find wreckage after shootdown, drone identity remains unclear

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The military shot down a drone that approached near the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) base of the US Forces Korea, but is facing difficulties as it has not been able to find the wreckage.

On the 19th, a military official told Asia Economy over the phone, "We conducted a search operation from the 17th to the 18th to find the wreckage of the drone shot down outside the THAAD base, but have not found it yet," adding, "Today, about 120 police officers and 70 military personnel will be deployed for the search as well."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Army announced on the 17th that a sentry at the THAAD base detected a flying object approaching outside the base and shot it down using a drone defense system. However, the drone that was shot down at that time was not by our military but by the US military. The US military responded with a 'Jamming Gun,' a device that disrupts the drone's radio signals. It is estimated that the drone, hit by the jamming signals, rapidly lost altitude and eventually crashed.

For now, the military has identified the drone as a civilian commercial drone about several tens of centimeters in size with four propellers. They judged that the possibility of the drone being a North Korean unmanned aerial vehicle is low. However, since it approached the restricted flight area near the THAAD base, there is speculation that someone intentionally flew the drone with a purpose.

The military and police are searching areas such as Chojan-myeon in Seongju-gun and Nongsomyeon in Gimcheon-si, where the drone is presumed to have crashed, but have not been able to locate the wreckage. This means that the military cannot prove the initial claim that the drone was approaching the base and that the operation to shoot it down was perfectly executed.

If the drone wreckage is not found, controversy may spread regarding whether the shot-down flying object was actually a drone and whether it was indeed shot down. A military official said, "We still consider the suspicion of an air defense threat to be low, but we plan to find the wreckage and conduct further investigation into who flew the drone toward the THAAD base."