ADD: Kamikaze Drone's Sea Crash Caused by Launch Tube Door Misalignment

On the 25th, during a naval combat experiment verifying the maritime operation of suicide drones in the southern waters of Busan, a suicide drone (unmanned aerial vehicle) took off to strike a high-speed unmanned target boat. In this combat experiment, the drones that took off twice from the Marado Ship immediately crashed into the sea, preventing the operation from proceeding. The navy explained that it will continue to verify maritime operability. Photo by Yonhap News Agency Joint Coverage

The cause of the crash of a medium-sized kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicle into the sea during a naval maritime combat test on the 25th is estimated to have been thrust deviation due to the misalignment of the launch tube’s opening and closing doors.

On the 28th, the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) announced the initial analysis results on the failure of the kamikaze drone’s maritime combat test. ADD explained, “Immediately after the drone was launched from the upper launch tube, a misalignment occurred in the left opening and closing door of the lower launch tube, which is positioned on the thrust line, causing deformation and damage due to the thrust.” As a result, the initial reaction force of the propulsion system could not maintain balance, which led to thrust deviating to one side and caused excessive instability in the drone’s attitude.

According to ADD, because aerodynamic effects are minimal in the early stages of launch and before flight control begins, the thrust deviation occurring as the drone is accelerated by the propulsion system is believed to have affected the airframe’s flight. In the actual maritime test, the drone failed to enter its normal flight procedure immediately after launch, its attitude became unstable, and it crashed into the sea. During this process, the drone showed excessive deviation toward the right side.

Previously, on the 25th, the Navy conducted a combat test in cooperation with ADD using the Navy’s large amphibious transport ship, Marado (LPH, 14,000 tons), in order to verify the maritime operability of kamikaze drones. Immediately after the drone was launched, the output of the propulsion system decreased, preventing it from flying straight, and it soon lost lift and fell into the sea. The Navy and ADD prepared for a relaunch for about an hour, and a second test was conducted at the same location later that afternoon, but immediately after takeoff, the drone’s nose pointed downward, the engine propeller began spinning noisily, and the drone quickly fell into the sea again.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.