SOUTH Korea’s military is planning to launch a weaponised drone unit which could be a major “game changer” in future warfare.

The unit, which will be introduced next year, will help counter the growing threat from a nuclear-armed North Korea.

South Korea news agency Yonhap revealed earlier this month the dronebots will operate in a reconnaissance capacity against North Korean targets as well as nuclear and missile sites.

An army official told Yonhap, the plan was to have the unit operational by 2018.

They would incorporate drone and robot technology and would be modelled on Israeli technology.

“To begin with, we will launch a dronebot combat unit next year and use it as a ‘game changer’ in warfare,” the official said.

“In case of a contingency, swarms of dronebots will be mobilised to launch attacks.”

S. Korean Army to form weaponized drone unit next year https://t.co/gFcRHGzBkv — Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) December 5, 2017

Experts suggest weaponised drones could be used to attack military, infrastructure and communication sites within North Korea.

Defence expert and senior research fellow at Washington-based conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation told CNBC the drones could potentially carry out surveillance and attacks against soft targets, but also had another advantage.

“There’s a pretty reasonable chance they can escape detection,” he said.

Dr Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst in defence strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told news.com.au it was an interesting idea.

He said networked swarms of drones are starting to be developed and this could be a game changer in future warfare.

However he said South Korea faced challenges in how the military would be able to control small drones and get them to the right target.

“It’s a law of physics issue — the smaller the platform, the less potential energy it can have, which limits range, speed and manoeuvrability,” he said.

“They can’t fly them from South Korea, so they’d need to deliver them over a general target — but then how do the drones discriminate targets? Unless they can share information as a swarm and build a common understanding of what they are looking at, which implies a requirement for artificial intelligence, drones are pretty limited.”

Dr Davis said it’s very difficult to determine what they are looking at on a low-resolution infra-red sensor.

“But it’s not impossible to do this — it may be something that becomes more viable in 10 years’ time — it’s probably cheaper to use precision-guided missile than drones,” he said.

“The South Koreans and Americans are well equipped in this manner.”

Kim Jong-un’s regime has triggered global alarm with a series of missile launches and a nuclear test this year.

North Korea launched a new type of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile named the Hwasong-15 on November 29.

The ICBM was launched on a steep trajectory before crashing back to Earth 960km away in the Sea of Japan, 210km from the Japanese coast.

With a range of 13,000km, the missile could hit the mainland US.

SPARTAN 3000

While the South Korean government is exercising restraint with the North, the military is training a decapitation unit comprised of highly trained elite soldiers.

Known as Spartan 3000, Seoul hopes the unit will intimidate its northern neighbour and deter it from attacking first.

The unit has not been assigned with the job of literally decapitating the North Korean leader but rather is being trained to neutralise their target’s ability to command and control their nuclear weapons and military forces.

The unit is due to be fully established by the end of the year and once operational could be ready to deploy in the space of just 24 hours.

debra.killalea@news.com.au