South Korea Uses AI Officers to Hunt for Sea Mines

The South Korean Navy's 730-ton Ongjin minesweeper. Photo: Yonhap/Kyodo News.

JAKARTA - The South Korean Navy has begun testing a new way to hunt for sea mines. For the first time, they used an "AI officer" system and a drone ship in an underwater mine sweeping exercise in Busan.

Kyodo News, quoted on Monday, August 3, reported that the test was announced by the South Korean Navy on Monday. The exercise was held to strengthen the capabilities of future maritime operations.

Mine clearance is an operation to search for and clear sea mines so that shipping lanes are safe.

The trial took place at a naval base in Busan, a port city in southeast South Korea. The exercise was jointly led by South Korean defense company Hanwha Systems.

The exercise involved the 730-ton Ongjin mine-sweeping ship, a reconnaissance drone, two unmanned surface vehicles or USVs, and an autonomous underwater vehicle developed by Hanwha.

USV is an unmanned vessel that moves on the sea surface. Autonomous underwater vehicles are unmanned vehicles that can move under the sea with an autonomous control system.

The training scenario was simple, but serious. The port of Busan was considered blocked by enemy mines.

In the trial, the Hanwha-owned USV did not really have the ability to clear mines. However, the ship was still involved as if it were capable of carrying out that task.

The South Korean Navy said the USV is expected to be upgraded with mine clearance capabilities in the future.

The training mission was directed by an "AI staff officer" system. This system analyzes the weather and sea currents before giving guidance to the human commander on the Ongjin ship as well as two unmanned vessels.

Based on the report of the AI staff officer, the Ongjin ship and the unmanned ship set up a search zone to find the simulated sea mines.

At the same time, reconnaissance drones monitor the operating environment around the port.

Kyodo News said the South Korean Navy assessed that the combat test showed that AI-based missions could be combined with manned ships and unmanned ships.

According to the South Korean Navy, such a pattern is considered effective for future naval operations.