State-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday that Kim oversaw the testing of “various kinds of reconnaissance and suicide drones” produced by North Korea’s Unmanned Aerial Technology Complex.
The new North Korean drones are capable of “tracking and monitoring different strategic targets and enemy troop activities on the ground and the sea”, while the attack drones will “be used for various tactical attack missions”, KCNA said, noting that both drone systems have been equipped with “new artificial intelligence”.
Kim agreed to expand the production capacity of “unmanned equipment and artificial intelligence” and emphasised the importance of creating a long-term plan for North Korea to promote “the rapid development” of “intelligent drones”, which is “the trend of modern warfare”.
Pictures from the tests, which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, were said to show attack drones successfully striking ground targets, including military vehicles.
The photos mark the first time such an aircraft was unveiled by the North, which was equipped with a radar dome on the fuselage, similar to the Boeing-manufactured Peace Eye operated by the South Korean air force.
North Korea’s efforts to create an early warning aircraft were previously reported by analysts who had used commercial satellite imagery to discover Pyongyang was converting a Russian-made Il-76 cargo aircraft into an early-warning role.
The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in a report last year that an AEW aircraft would help augment North Korea’s existing land-based radar systems, though just one aircraft would not be enough.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un boards an early warning and reconnaissance aircraft in this photo released by North Korea’s KCNA on March 27, 2025 [Handout/KCNA via Reuters]
During his visit to the test site, Kim was also briefed on intelligence-gathering capabilities as well as electronic jamming and attack systems newly developed by the country’s electronic warfare group, KCNA said.