JAKARTA - The South Korean Navy managed to fly a fixed-wing drone from a Navy ship for the first time, officials said this month, as part of efforts to advance increasingly important unmanned aerial vehicle technology in modern warfare.
In a test run, a prototype Mojave drone, developed by the US company General Atomics Aeronautical System, took off from the ROKS Dokdo amphibious assault ship (LPH-6111) weighing 14,000 tons and flew over the waters over the East Sea while maintaining communication with the Navy's ships and Air Command, according to the Navy.
The drone, with the ability to take off and land short (STOL), took off from the runway 70 to 90 meters long, 9 meters long and 16 meters wide. The aircraft can fly 10,000 feet, about 3 kilometers away, with a maximum air speed of 140 knots, quoted from The Korea Times 27 November.
After a flight that lasted about an hour, the drone landed safely on the runway at the Naval Air Command in Pohang, 273 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the Navy said.
Trials in the middle of this month, the first to engage a fixed-wing unmanned aircraft launched from flight decks aboard the Navy, were carried out as part of efforts to better integrate and enhance operations of manned and unmanned military equipment.
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Compared to drone drones, wing drones can still fly faster and maneuver in a wider area, making them effective maritime weapons. However, its use is limited because runways are needed to take off.
It is known that the Mojave prototype was assembled at ROKS Dokdo and underwent a trial for a week before the demonstration flight, according to the Navy.
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