South Korean drones crash during naval launch test

Two South Korean loitering munitions crashed into the sea during a maritime test near Busan on August 25, 2026. The drones were launched from the ROKS Marado, a Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship, as part of an exercise intended to demonstrate the ability to strike an unmanned target vessel approximately two kilometers away.

An investigation by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) identified a defect in the shipboard launcher as the cause of the failure. Specifically, a door on the lower-left section of a launch tube was misaligned. When a drone was launched from an upper tube, the resulting forces briefly pushed the misaligned door inward, creating an imbalance that caused the aircraft to veer sharply to the right and lose control almost immediately.

Investigators are currently determining whether the misalignment occurred during assembly, transport, or loading. The ADD noted that the drones and the overall system were operating normally, and that approximately 30 previous land-based tests had been conducted without similar issues. No casualties were reported.