Enoch Wong

Published: 12:00pm, 15 Jun 2025

South Korea’s recent unveiling of a model of a radical new type of naval drone carrier signalled its intention to join an exclusive group of militaries as it bids to influence the future of warfare.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries revealed a model of the 15,000-tonne HCX-23 Plus drone carrier in late May at the 2025 International Maritime Defence Industry Exhibition in the South Korean port city of Busan.

The concept hinted at how rapidly naval warfare is being redefined as defence strategists look for new ways to use uncrewed weapons.

Described by its designers as a “next-generation unmanned platform”, the radical, multi-deck ship, which lacks a traditional command island, revisits concepts abandoned by Japan and Britain after World War II.

The HCX-23 Plus drone carrier model unveiled last month in Busan. Photo: X/mason_8718

“Strategically, this positions South Korea as a potential first mover in deploying a compact, drone-optimised maritime asset tailored to the demands of modern grey-zone and near-sea operations,” said Jihoon Yu, a retired naval commander and a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses.

“While high-risk, the HCX-23 Plus could represent a genuine leap in unmanned maritime power projection.

“Compared to other emerging drone-capable platforms, the HCX-23 Plus presents a more specialised and forward-looking concept,” Yu said.

He said the South Korean approach was contrast with the general-purpose design of China’s newly launched 40,000-tonne Type 076 Sichuan amphibious assault ship, and the adapted configuration of Turkey’s 27,000-tonne TCG Anadolu.

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The HCX-23 Plus was being developed from the ground up with drone integration in mind, Yu said, noting advantages such as optimal deck flow, sensor placement, and integrated Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems.

But Yu cautioned that the concept’s success would also depend on how well it integrated advanced automation, remote control systems, and deck-handling technologies – areas where most navies have limited experience.

The shift by South Korea’s navy towards a drone-focused command ship was expected to save at least US$1 billion in defence costs, according to a national defence committee briefing last month, compared to a now-scrapped CVX light aircraft carrier project, which was to operate 20 US-made F-35B fighter jets.

“The shift reflects rapid advances in artificial intelligence and drone technology, and the proven effectiveness of unmanned aerial vehicles in recent conflicts,” said an online commentary published on Monday by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). It added that militaries worldwide were exploring diverse drone carrier pathways – ranging from refitted amphibious ships to entirely new designs.

Collin Koh, a naval expert and senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, pointed to the war in Ukraine and the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia as watersheds in the use of attack drones in modern warfare.

“Drones are now the game changers,” Koh said. “With current designs and current innovative ways ... developing a drone carrier is within the reach of more countries.”

Koh said that drone carrier designs were “not as complicated” as a full-fledged carrier, which required more complex flight control systems, take-off and landing gear, and extensive hangar facilities.

Drone-capable vessels are not new – submarines and surface combatants can already launch unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). But platforms purpose-built to deploy and coordinate the full spectrum of unmanned systems, including UAVs, unmanned surface vehicles and unmanned underwater vehicles, are different.

However, a purpose-built drone carrier is “a luxury more than anything else” for budget-constrained navies, including the US Navy and Nato, according to Koh.

Converting existing vessels is one example of a workaround.

“Iran is a good example of how you could improvise and then you can have a drone carrier on the get-go at what I presume to be an affordable cost,” Koh said, referring to Iran’s 30,000-tonne IRIS Shahid Bagheri, a converted merchant vessel that was commissioned in February.

The IRIS Shahid Bagheri is a drone carrier operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy. Photo: Handout

Koh said that such conversions could benefit smaller navies and maritime law enforcement agencies. “Drone carriers could become the next wave of force multipliers … [and] give more options to less endowed navies around the world.”

Yu said one major trend “will be the shift towards purpose-built drone carriers, rather than repurposing amphibious or traditional aviation platforms”.

“These vessels will be designed from the keel up with automated launch and recovery systems, AI-assisted air traffic control, and modular internal bays tailored for different classes of UAVs – from reconnaissance drones to loitering munitions and electronic warfare platforms,” Yu predicted.

However, other experts cautioned that dedicated drone carriers would not be a one-size-fits-all solution.

“An ideal aircraft carrier – especially a large one – should integrate both manned and unmanned aircraft,” said military commentator Song Zhongping, a former PLA instructor.

While drone carriers are cheaper and less technically demanding, their effectiveness will depend heavily on advances in AI. “AI-driven automation is key,” Song said. “For drone carriers to be viable, they must achieve higher levels of autonomous control.

“As AI matures, we may eventually see fully autonomous drone carriers. But that reality is still some way off.”

Yu said deployment would be key. “Drone carriers will not operate in isolation but as part of a broader sensor-shooter network, sharing data in real time with manned ships, submarines, aircraft and land-based assets.”

South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries unveiled the 15,000-tonne HCX-23 Plus drone carrier model in May. Photo: X/mason_8718

Such an approach would allow smaller and more numerous drone carriers “to serve as forward-deployed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance [units] and strike nodes in contested environments … where manned operations are too risky”, Yu said.

“The HCX-23 Plus could serve as a scalable, asymmetric response platform for scenarios across the East China Sea, Yellow Sea, and broader Indo-Pacific region,” he added.

To underscore the trend, Yu pointed to the emergence of China’s GJ?11 Sharp Sword – a low-observable, flying-wing uncrewed combat aerial vehicle featuring internal weapons bays and advanced AI-driven autonomy.

The naval variant GJ-11J underwent flight trials around the same time as the debut of the Type 076 amphibious assault ship, which is expected to be a major launch platform for the aerial vehicle.

“If successfully deployed, the GJ?11J would bring stealthy, long-range strike and ISR capabilities to drone carriers, enabling strike-first tactics and complicating coastal defence nets … feeding data into real-time networks and coordinating swarming or saturation attacks,” Yu added.

The GJ?11J could be deployed for maritime denial missions – targeting anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) architectures, monitoring disputed waters, and maintaining a persistent presence without risking human crews, he noted.

“This model signals a transformation from conventional carrier battle groups to flexible, drone-centric task forces – lean, networked, and capable of scaling force projection in contested littoral zones,” Yu said.

Advanced unmanned systems like GJ-11J remain the preserve of major militaries – such as China and the US – with strong defence industries and funding, according to Koh. Smaller militaries or even middle powers, by contrast, typically “make use of less capable drones that are usually smaller with more limited payloads, more limited mission scopes, more limited range and endurance”, he added.

If China mass-deployed the GJ-11J, it would prompt a competitive response from countries such as the US, Japan, Australia and even India, according to Koh, who estimated it could take even the more well-funded and advanced militaries up to five years to close the gap, assuming “they already have an existing drone industry to begin with”.

But for other militaries – some of which are potential adversaries of China, such as those in the South China Sea region – the picture is different.

“These countries have neither the necessary technological nor financing base to develop such capabilities,” he said.

Enoch Wong

Enoch Wong joined the Post in 2024 as a Senior Reporter on the China Desk after over a decade with institutions like Tsinghua University and UN-affiliated organisations