Exclusive
Ucon System Wins 31.4 Billion Won Short-Range Reconnaissance Drone Contract

[비즈한국] The ‘Short-Range Reconnaissance Drone’ model, which had raised concerns due to prolonged delays, has finally been selected. According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and industry sources, the ‘Ucon System’ product was selected as the model for the short-range reconnaissance drone project on the 27th, and a procurement contract has been signed.

The short-range reconnaissance drone project is a program to procure and introduce domestic unmanned aerial vehicles to be operated at the squad and platoon levels of the Army and Marine Corps. It is primarily used by battalion-level units within maneuver divisions, rapid response divisions, and amphibious divisions to support company-level units.

Reconnaissance drones are advanced technologies that play a crucial role on the modern battlefield, maximizing the efficiency of military operations by collecting and transmitting information in real-time. By utilizing drones to monitor dangerous areas or maneuver routes in advance and conduct precise reconnaissance on suspected enemy ambush points and blind spots for friendly forces, they support the safety of troops and the effective execution of operations.

Originally scheduled for completion last year, the short-range reconnaissance drone procurement project had been repeatedly delayed because no product met the military's performance and price requirements. The project initially began its first procurement test evaluation with four companies in June 2022, but the evaluation was suspended as all four failed to meet the criteria due to unintended radio interference defects. The project was relaunched at the end of 2022, and companies including Ucon System, Bora Sky, Soomvi, Nessentech, and Preneu participated in the bidding, with procurement test evaluations beginning in June 2023.

The total project budget is 31.468 billion won, and the overall procurement items consist of 214 sets of short-range reconnaissance drones (main equipment), 5 sets for training, 6 sets of technical manuals, 4 sets of maintenance replacement equipment, 116 sets of basic parts/support equipment, and 5 sets of concurrent procurement repair parts.

The short-range reconnaissance drone from Ucon System selected for this project is a quadcopter drone with a length of 51cm, height of 34cm, and weight of 5kg. This drone is designed to perform surveillance and reconnaissance missions by automatically flying along designated waypoints at an altitude of 150m and within a 5km radius for 30 minutes. Its advantage is that it can be carried and operated by a single person, and it has been developed to allow for interchangeable electro-optical (EO) or infrared (IR) cameras, enabling day, night, and all-weather operations.

Ucon System is scheduled to produce and deliver the short-range reconnaissance drones to the Army and Marine Corps from February next year until February 2026. Ucon System forms the "big three" of domestic military drones alongside Korean Air003490 and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI)047810. The company has a history of delivering small reconnaissance drones in 2013 and has been recognized for its technical prowess by participating in the development of the Nuri rocket's ground control system. Numerous domestic unmanned vehicle companies with technical expertise, including Bora Sky, Soomvi, and Nessentech, participated in this short-range reconnaissance drone project.