A drone on May 22 drops a smoke bomb while delivering blood samples in a training exercise around five strategic islands in the Yellow Sea. (Taekyung Electronics)

By Yoon Sojung

A drop of blood saved a person's life.

A drone flew high while carrying an emergency blood bag and ice packs despite strong winds and heavy smoke in a region around the Yellow Sea, with its destination being an operating room.

It even dropped smoke bombs to avoid enemy surveillance and safely delivered the blood on time. On the battlefield, a single drop of blood can mean life or death.

This was a scene from training on May 22 for drones delivering blood samples and medical supplies conducted by the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital on Daecheong-do Island, one of the five strategic islands in the sea.

On May 26, the Defense Daily reported that this exercise was conducted as part of the Drone Test City Construction Project supervised by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Thanks to this training, military authorities confirmed the potential to use drones in real combat, raising expectations for drones playing a pivotal role in medical defense operations.

The drill was done in the form of a field training exercise featuring the first application of drones for delivering emergency blood. It was conducted in line with the joint medical support exercise Dragon Lift hosted by the Republic of Korea (ROK)/U.S. Combined Forces Command for the first half of the year.

The training used a simulated wartime situation around the five islands. To save a wounded soldier needing emergency surgery, a drone was sent to Daecheongdo carrying a 500-ml pack of simulated blood and ice packs to prevent specimens from deterioration.

Used in the drill were a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone and a multicopter. The drone was a battery-powered electric VTOL vehicle with a payload of up to 3 kg and a flying range of 150 km. The multicopter could carry 5 kg and fly up to 35 km.

The hospital's forward surgical team (FST), which is highly mobile and deployed to the front lines in case of emergency, created a training situation at a port of the ROK Navy's 2nd Fleet.

The FST will see higher capacity to complete a mission when medical drones are powered up and used as part of both manned and unmanned aviation delivery systems, the hospital said.

Hospital director Lee Cook-jong said, "We will seek to organically integrate manned and unmanned aviation power to form the backbone of frontline forces that protect the country."

Countries are aggressively conducting research and development to expand the roles of drones in transportation, photography, medicine and rescue to search and reconnaissance. Leading examples include the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's recent pilot operation of "smart patrols" using drones and wearable robots and drone surveillance of Jirisan Mountain to prevent forest fires.

The Navy has also kept building unmanned systems, including the holding of a drill last month to assess the operational feasibility of an unmanned approach of using drones and multicopters in waters near Ilsan Port of Ulsan.

Another promising sector for drones is medicine. The devices can be the first to respond to a disaster or emergency and do so quickly in remote, island, mountainous and military regions with poor medical access.

In March, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport began emergency blood delivery by drones to connect military hospitals in the provinces and blood centers in cooperation with the governments of Daejeon; Boryeong, Chungcheongnam-do Province; and Yeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.

Thus the use of drones holds promise in emergency medical services as well as search and reconnaissance. 

The Republic of Korea Navy on May 12 holds a drill on the feasibility of an automated system for war and peacetime that uses a search and reconnaissance VTOL drone in waters near Ilsan Port southeast of Ulsan.

arete@korea.kr