South Korea deployed anti-drone protection networks to its front-line armored units during a force-on-force exercise with the Republic of Korea Army’s 8th Maneuver Division.
The exercise, which took place in January 2026, involved tanks K2 Black Panther and infantry fighting vehicles K21 of the South Korean army, according to a report from Defence Blog.
The images, released after training by the Republic of Korea Army’s 8th Maneuver Division, show both platforms operating with cage-style protection over turrets and upper hull areas.
The measures are designed to reduce vulnerability to low-cost munitions and first-person attack (FPV) drones, a threat the South Korean military has closely assessed after studying combat lessons from the war in Ukraine.
As part of the exercise, vehicles K2 e K21 modified maneuvered in high-intensity simulated combat scenarios, indicating that anti-drone networks are being treated as standard operational equipment rather than ad hoc battlefield modifications.
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According to South Korean military sources, the protective screens are designed to be lightweight, foldable and quickly deployable, allowing armored teams to deploy them without major changes to the vehicle’s structure or mobility.
Rather than providing heavy armor protection, the systems focus on defeating superior attack drones by triggering premature detonation or disrupting the guidance of enemy air systems.
The change reflects a broader reassessment of armored warfare by South Korea as low-cost aerial threats proliferate. It is worth emphasizing that both platforms were originally designed to combat conventional anti-tank weapons, not mass drone attacks, which led to the South Korean Army needing to adapt quickly.
Photo: ROK Army’s 8th Maneuver Division. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
