The South Korean military assessed progress made during the first half of the year in its Defense Innovation 4.0 initiative, which aims to make the military slimmer and smarter using artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies.

At a meeting presided over by defense minister Shin Won-sik on Monday, the ministry listed key achievements, including preparations to establish the Strategic Command this year, the launch of the nation's second military spy satellite, and the completion of long-range surface-to-air missile(L-SAM) testing.

For the second half of the year, the ministry outlined plans to launch a third military reconnaissance satellite, as well as deploy the Korean tactical surface-to-surface missile(KTSSM) and the Aegis destroyer Jeongjo the Great.

The military is also planning to produce prototypes of encryption equipment for unmanned aerial systems and to establish a next-generation military broadband convergence network(M-BcN) to support AI and other digital technologies.

The ministry plans to reflect the outcome of its performance analysis and assessment of the Defense Innovation 4.0 project into the first revision of the initiative’s basic plan next year.