Fresh from the successful development of its home-grown KF-21 fighter jet, South Korea has set its sights on developing "stealth" unmanned military drones that could contribute to neutralising North Korea's dense anti-aircraft defence system.

The Korean Agency for Defence Development (ADD) selected Korean Air earlier this month as the preferred bidder over Korea Aerospace Industries, developer of the indigenous KF-21, for its "stealth unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) squadron development project", Korean Air said last week.