South Korea kamikaze drone prototypes crash during sea trials

South Korea’s attempt to develop a domestic low-cost strike drone, known as the Korea Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (K-LUCAS), faced a significant setback during recent sea trials. Two prototypes of the loitering munition crashed into the sea off the coast of Busan shortly after being launched from the amphibious ship ROKS Marado.

The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and the Republic of Korea Navy conducted the tests to demonstrate the drone’s ability to be deployed from large warships. While the drones had successfully completed approximately 30 land-based test flights without incident, both maritime attempts failed within seconds of launch.

Initial telemetry indicated that the rocket boosters separated normally and the engines reached expected RPMs, leaving the exact cause of the crashes unclear. Officials stated that flight data and recovered wreckage are currently being analyzed to determine if the failure was due to an alignment issue or another technical malfunction.