By Akhil Kadidal | 28 March 2025

作者：阿基尔·卡迪达尔 | 2025年3月28日

 

North Korea's Morning Star-4 strategic reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle. (Janes/Akhil Kadidal)

朝鲜的晨星-4战略侦察无人机。（简氏/阿基尔·卡迪达尔）

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen flight trials of the new Ilyushin Il-76MD airborne warning and control system (AWACS) platform and the Saetbyol-4 (Morning Star-4) ‘strategic reconnaissance' unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that are under development in the country.

朝鲜领导人金正恩视察了该国正在开发的新型伊留申伊尔-76MD机载预警和控制系统（AWACS）平台和晨星-4（Saetbyol-4）“战略侦察”无人机（UAV）的飞行试验。

 

North Korea disclosed progress made in these programmes on 27 March, following Kim's visit to the country's Unmanned Aeronautical Technology Complex and the Detection and Electronic Warfare Research Group on 25 and 26 March. According to the state-owned Korea Central Television (KCTV), Kim said that unmanned and artificial intelligence (AI) programmes “should be given the highest priority”. Referring to the AWACS, Kim added that the aircraft will play a “major role in monitoring potential threats and collecting vital intelligence”.

朝鲜于3月27日公布了这些项目取得的进展，此前金正恩于3月25日和26日访问了该国的无人驾驶航空技术综合体和探测与电子战研究小组。据国有的中央电视台（KCTV）报道，金正恩表示，无人驾驶和人工智能（AI）项目“应被赋予最高优先级”。谈到预警飞机时，金正恩补充说，这些飞机将在“监测潜在威胁和收集重要情报方面发挥重要作用”。

 

The North Korean leader's comments about enhancing unmanned capabilities appear to be based on perceptions that global “competition to use intelligent UAVs as the main means of military power is accelerating”, according to the KCTV report.

根据KCTV的报道，朝鲜领导人关于增强无人驾驶能力的评论似乎是基于这样一种看法，即全球“将智能无人机作为军事力量主要手段的竞争正在加速”。

 

In photographs published by the state-owned Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 27 March, Kim was inspecting the Morning Star-4 UAV, which was shown conducting a test flight in wheels-down configuration.

在国有的朝鲜中央通讯社（KCNA）3月27日发布的照片中，金正恩正在检查晨星-4无人机，该无人机以起落架放下配置进行试飞。

 

Janes has previously reported that the Morning Star-4 UAV, which was shown for the first time at the Weapons and Equipment Exhibition 2023 at the Armed Forces Hall in Pyongyang in July 2023, is known to have conducted test flights prior to its unveiling. The Morning Star-4 bears a resemblance to the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk.

简氏此前曾报道，2023年7月在平壤武装部队大厅举行的2023年武器装备展览会上首次展出的晨星-4无人机在亮相前进行了试飞。晨星-4类似于诺斯罗普·格鲁曼RQ-4“全球鹰”。