The Army, in coordination with the Air Force and Korean military officials, has begun the process to permanently station a Gray Eagle Unmanned Aerial Systems company at Kunsan Air Base in Korea," according to officials at United States Forces Korea.
The military did not say how many drones will be sent, but the system will add "significant intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability" to U.S. forces in Korea and their South Korean allies, Maj. Jennifer Lovett, a USFK spokeswoman told Stars and Stripes.
The Gray Eagle, developed for the Army by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is an advanced version of the Predator with speeds up to 192.18 mph and operating capabilities up to 29,000 feet, according to the company's website.
"A South Korean military official, who was not identified, also told the Yonhap news agency that the drone would enhance the allies' abilities to strike ground targets in North Korea," reports Stars and Stripes.
The company will be assigned to the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division with a plan to have one Gray Eagle company in each division of the Army, USFK officials said.
Yonhap News Agency said the surface-to-air missiles on the drone are capable of striking major military facilities located just north of the Military Demarcation Line bisecting the two Koreas. "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," an unnamed military official told the news agency.
Sung-Yoon Lee, Korea expert at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, said the timing of the announcement was interesting.
"I don't know enough about the technology or strategy behind the drone to comment on the issue, but the timing of the announcement, during the annual combined military exercises that North Korea abhors, can hardly be a coincidence," Lee said. "Together with the announcement that the U.S. Special Naval Warfare Development Group (Seal Team Six) is involved in the exercises this year for the first time since the they started nearly 40 years ago, one may be forgiven in assuming that one intended message for Kim Jong Un regime must be: Watch out. We may track you down and take you out".
As for how North Korea might react, Lee said he expected the Kim regime to "go shrill and last out at the very least verbally."
On Saturday, the Korean Central News Agency, the nation's official news organization) called U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley a "matchless political prostitute" for criticizing North Korea's leader last week. "We can certainly expect more vulgarity and bluster to come, followed by more nuclear and missile tests and laying the blame on the US for the drone deployment," Lee said.
Additional reporting by Shawn Snow
