A Drone Appeared Near the THAAD Base in Seongju: Military Believes to Have “Shot Down the Drone with a Jamming Gun”

Troops install four Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile launchers that were transported to the USFK THAAD base in Seongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do in September 2017. Kyunghyang Shinmun Archives

An unidentified aerial vehicle appeared near the United States Forces Korea (USFK) Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile base in Seongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do and the military conducted an operation in response to the drone.

The Army 2nd Operations Command announced on January 18 that a soldier on guard discovered one aerial vehicle believed to be a drone while conducting operational vigilance in the outskirts of the THAAD base at around 12:54 p.m. January 17. The military then responded with its drone defense system.

The military believes they shot down the drone using a jamming gun, a weapon to counter drones. The jamming gun discharges jamming signals to restrain the drones.

But the military has yet to find the drone believed to have been shot down. Over a hundred police officers and more than 160 soldiers searched the area where the drone is believed to have fallen until 8 p.m. January 17. The military and the police resumed the search at 8 a.m. the next day.

The military believes the drone in question was a small civilian drone in the form of a quadcopter with four propellers.

A representative of the 2nd Operations Command said, “Based on the statement by the soldier who first discovered the aerial vehicle, we believe it was a commercial drone,” and added, “It is very unlikely for the vehicle to be a military drone, and it did not directly infiltrate the THAAD base.”