[KADEX On-site] Poland Suicide Drone to Be Deployed in Combat Within This Year

Our Military Signs Contract for Suicide Drone 'Warmate'
Scheduled for Deployment to Drone Operations Command and Others in December

Polish-made suicide drones will be deployed in our military within this year.

On the 2nd, the military signed a contract to procure the suicide drone "Warmate" with Polish manufacturer WB Electronics at the "Korea International Defense Industry Exhibition" (KADEX) held at the emergency runway of Gyeryongdae in Chungnam.

Warmate is scheduled to begin transportation next month and will be deployed to the Army operational units and the Drone Operations Command by December. The contract quantity and procurement price were not disclosed. The military authorities have been considering a plan to mass-procure small suicide drones in light of North Korea's development and overseas procurement of suicide drones. While continuing domestic development of suicide drones, they decided to prioritize the procurement of Warmate, which has gained combat experience in the Ukraine war and can be supplied quickly.

Consideration was also given to the fact that Poland has been purchasing Korean-made weapons such as the K9 self-propelled howitzer, K2 tank, FA-50 fighter jet, and the multiple rocket launcher "Cheonmu" worth tens of trillions of won to respond to the security crisis following the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

A Ministry of National Defense official explained the background of purchasing Polish suicide drones, saying, "Considering the large-scale defense export contracts underway with Poland, purchasing unmanned aerial vehicles can express a mutually beneficial relationship rather than a one-sided advantage, which can create positive conditions for future export contracts with Poland."

Earlier, Poland requested the purchase of its domestic suicide drones at the Defense and Defense Industry Cooperation Joint Committee meeting with Korea in June. In response, the Ministry of National Defense dispatched officials from the Drone Operations Command and related agencies to Poland in July to verify the performance, specifications, and production capacity of Warmate, and decided to purchase the product at the Defense Policy Meeting in August.

Warmate is a suicide drone that Poland supports to Ukraine, consisting of the airframe (size 1.6m×1.1m), warhead, launcher, ground control, and communication equipment. It can be equipped with various warheads such as high-explosive bombs and uses a "pneumatic launcher" that fires by bursting a compressed air cartridge.

A Ministry of National Defense official said, "The Army, Drone Operations Command, Agency for Defense Development (ADD), Defense Technology Quality Institute, and Defense Acquisition Program Administration officials all went and thoroughly verified the product to the extent possible," adding, "We also judged it to be sufficiently valuable for use, and its quality has been verified through the Ukraine war."