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A suicide drone (unmanned aerial vehicle) takes off to strike a high-speed unmanned target boat during a naval combat experiment verifying maritime operations of suicide drones in waters south of Busan on the 25th. / Yonhap

Legislation is being pursued to establish separate acquisition procedures for cutting-edge capabilities such as artificial intelligence (AI) and drones, moving away from fixing target performance requirements in advance and waiting for finished products.

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Byung-joo and People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Yong-won jointly introduced the "Bill on Advanced Defense Capabilities Projects" on the 31st.

The core objective is to establish separate acquisition procedures for cutting-edge capabilities to rapidly identify technologies required on the battlefield and swiftly transition private-sector innovative technologies into military capabilities. The proposed bill defines such equipment as advanced capability systems and establishes an Advanced Capabilities Development Committee under the Minister of National Defense to deliberate on and coordinate major policies and operational requirements.

Looking at the specifics, the method of identifying operational requirements will shift from being "performance-centric" to "mission-centric". Rather than fixing equipment performance in advance, operational requirements will be raised based on missions to be performed and desired effects to be achieved, with final requirements determined through committee deliberation. Detailed performance specifications will then be established through technical dialogues with private companies and research institutions.

Furthermore, the organic iterative development process allows "minimum viable products" equipped with minimal features to conduct core missions to be deployed to military units first, with performance iteratively enhanced based on real-world operational evaluations. For commercial off-the-shelf procurement, the bill enables purchases based solely on committee deliberation without retesting once supply chain, security, and performance have been pre-verified and registered on a certified list.

"What is needed on the battlefield is not a perfect weapon, but a weapon that can be deployed right now. A recurring pattern has been that by the time equipment reaches units, it is already outdated," said lawmaker Kim. "As there can be no divide between the ruling and opposition parties when it comes to national security, we will work together to pass this during the current regular session of the National Assembly."

Lawmaker Yoo said, "As confirmed in the war in Ukraine, the modern battlefield has shifted into a battle of speed where we rapidly develop, verify in actual combat, and continuously upgrade weapons rather than waiting years for perfection. Procuring AI and drones, which have short technology replacement cycles, using acquisition standards from a decade ago is no different from tying the hands and feet of our troops. We will make every effort to pass the legislation so as not to miss the golden hour for defense innovation."

                                                                                                           Lee Han-sol