Suicide drone falls into sea after launch due to minor defect: officials

A suicide drone crashed into the sea after launch during a combat test earlier this week due to a defect in its launch tube, according to the manufacturer. The loitering munition, developed by the military, was launched from the Marado amphibious assault ship and was set to strike a boat in waters near the southern port city of Busan on Tuesday.

The misalignment in the left door of the lower part of the launch tube resulted in an imbalance in the repulsive force, causing the drone to lose balance and turn all the way rightward before crashing into the sea. The ADD suspects the misalignment occurred during the assembly process or when the launcher was being moved.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.