Military Ultimately Fails to Locate Drone That Crashed at THAAD Base

Uncertainty Over Presence of Aircraft and Success of Response System
Police Continue Checking CCTV Footage and Inquiries

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The military ultimately failed to locate the civilian drone that approached the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) base of the US Forces Korea in Seongju, Gyeongbuk. The military can no longer prove the fact that the drone was approaching the base or that it successfully completed the operation by shooting down the drone.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Army on the 20th, the military and police deployed about 200 personnel daily until the previous day to search for the drone around the THAAD base in Chojan-myeon, Seongju-gun, and Nongsomyeon, Gimcheon-si, but have not found it so far. There is also a possibility that the operator recovered the drone that crashed due to radio interference or that the drone, which had rapidly decreased altitude, flew in another direction.

The joint investigation team concluded on the 17th of this month that the drone flying object that approached the THAAD base had little suspicion of being an anti-aircraft threat. However, from that day, the police began investigating the flying subject through closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage review and inquiries, and also took charge of searching for the drone. The military plans to support the police upon their request.

The Army announced on the 17th that a sentry at the THAAD base detected a flying object approaching the base perimeter and shot it down using the 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.

For now, the military has identified the drone as a civilian commercial drone with four propellers and a size of several tens of centimeters. The possibility that the drone was a North Korean unmanned aerial vehicle is considered low. The military stated, "Although we have not secured the drone, based on various data and circumstances, we assessed that the possibility of it being an anti-aircraft threat is very low."