US Marines debut live-fire FPV drone training in South Korea

POCHEON, South Korea — U.S. Marines recently carried out their first live-fire demonstrations of first-person-view attack drones on the Korean Peninsula, testing how the emerging weapons could be employed in a potential Indo-Pacific conflict.

The demos allowed Marines to refine the practical requirements for operating the drones, including airspace management, range coordination, regulatory procedures and integration with allied and joint forces, Col. Peter Ankeny, deputy commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Korea, said at a press briefing Wednesday.

“It’s all about combined readiness,” he said. “Combined readiness is credible readiness.”

The 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion carried out the first demonstration with Archer drones on July 30 near Pohang, about 210 miles southeast of Seoul.

On Wednesday, Marines from 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, conducted another demonstration at Rodriguez Live-Fire Complex in Pocheon, about 15 miles south of the border with North Korea.

The Archer is an FPV attack drone manufactured by Neros, a U.S. defense technology company. It can strike targets at ranges of about 15 ½ miles and reach speeds of up to 81 mph, according to Kenneth Inocencio, the company’s Asia-Pacific growth lead.

An FPV drone transmits live video from its onboard camera to a remote operator, who flies the drone from the aircraft’s perspective in real time.

U.S. Marines detonate a Neros Archer first-person-view attack drone at the Rodriguez Live-Fire Complex in Pocheon, South Korea, Aug. 5, 2026. (Korea Defense Daily)

The Archer may carry anti-armor, anti-material or anti-personnel payloads and can penetrate nearly 4 inches of steel, Inocencio said at the range on Wednesday.

It was also designed to operate in environments where adversaries may attempt to disrupt communications and navigation through electronic warfare, he said.

Inocencio described the Archer as “probably the least Chinese drone in the market.” It is assembled in the United States using components from Taiwan, Japan and other countries, and does not depend on what he called critical Chinese-made parts.

The Marines said the drones could extend the striking range of small units well beyond that of squad-level infantry weapons.

The technology allows the service to conduct precision attacks while remaining farther from enemy positions, according to information published Tuesday by the 3rd Marine Division on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service.

The demonstrations reflect the Marine Corps’ effort to incorporate lessons from recent conflicts, particularly Russia’s war against Ukraine, where first-person-view attack drones have become a prominent battlefield weapon.

The service announced in March 2025 that it had formed an attack drone team in response to the rapid proliferation of unmanned systems.

The demonstrations were part of Korea Marine Exchange Program 26.2, an annual field-training exercise involving U.S. and South Korean marines across the peninsula. The training began July 28 and is expected to conclude Saturday.