Drones made in Israel will be deployed to patrol the air above inter-Korean border areas in the Yellow Sea.
 
A military official said Tuesday that the Defense Acquisition Program Administration recently selected the high-performance IAI Heron-1 developed by Israel Aerospace Industries.
 
The military will purchase three of the drones with a budget of 40 billion won and deploy them to frontline units located in the nation’s northwestern border islands and in regions near the Seoul metropolitan area by the end of next year.
 
The IAI Heron-1 is a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle with a range of 250 kilometers. It is capable of flying for more than 24 hours, or six times longer than the drones the South Korean military is currently operating.