North Korea Launches New ICBM, South Korea-US Holds Joint Exercises For Drone Attacks For The First Time

Illustration of the MQ-9 drone United States. (Wikimedia Commons/US Air Force/Lawrence Crespo)

JAKARTA - South Korea and the United States held a joint drone strike exercise for the first time on Friday, South Korea's Air Force said, a day after North Korea launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Live-fire drills, involving South Korea's RQ-4B Global Hawk reconnaissance drone and US MQ-9 attack drone, took place at an unnamed location in South Korea, in an effort to demonstrate allied military capabilities in dealing with North Korean threats. November 1.

The exercise took place in a scenario of attacking the origin of enemy provocations, with South Korean drones collecting data on simulated targets and sharing them with US drones, according to the Air Force.

"After receiving the information, the drone fired the GBU-38 joint direct attack ammunition to attack the target accurately," he said.

A military source said the two sides did not plan to publish the drills, but decided to do so as a warning to North Korea after the launch of its ICBM.

North Korea on Thursday conducted a test launch of the latest ICBM called Hwasong-19. The Korean military considers it the largest long-range missile North Korea has to date.