US to deploy Grey Eagle unmanned attack aircraft to S. Korea: Yonhap

By Park Sae-jin Posted : March 13, 2017, 14:05 Updated : March 13, 2017, 14:38

General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle [General Atomics Website]


The United States will deploy an unmanned attack aircraft to its military unit in South Korea to enhance its strike capabilities against ground targets in North Korea, a military official said Monday.

The US Army has begun the process to dispatch a squadron, which will operate the Grey Eagle unmanned aircraft, to a U.S. unit in Gunsan (274 kilometers south of Seoul)," the official told Yonhap News Agency asking not to be identified.'

The official said consultations are underway between South Korea and the US over the deployment. He didn't give a specific time frame.

The Grey Eagle Unmanned Aircraft System is capable of carrying four AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles and four GPS-aided GBU-44/B Viper Strike glide bombs. The weapons are capable of striking major military facilities located just north of the Military Demarcation Line bisecting the two Koreas, the official said.

"In case of a war on the Korean Peninsula, the unmanned aircraft could infiltrate into the skies of North Korea and make a precision strike on the war command and other major military facilities," he said.

The unmanned aircraft is also capable of destroying the war command in Pyongyang, including its leader Kim Jong-un, in case of a war. Gray Eagle features an automatic takeoff and landing system (ATLS) that allows the aircraft to be launched and recovered without any operator interaction. It could reach speeds of up to 280 kilometers per hour during its 30 hour operation time.

(Yonhap)
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