North Korea shows kamikaze drone blowing up a mock U.S. Abrams tank

North Korea has released images of a loitering munition diving onto and destroying a mock-up of a U.S. Army M1 Abrams tank, part of a firepower demonstration Kim Jong Un watched on Oct. 29, and the drone in the photos closely resembles the Hero-400 built by Israeli company UVision.

The photos, published by state news agency KCNA on Oct. 30, show a slender drone with two sets of cross-shaped wings, one near the nose and one near the tail, descending at a steep angle toward a sand-colored tank target built to look like an Abrams, with its distinctive angular turret and gun.

A second frame shows a large fireball where the target stood. KCNA did not name the drone, give its range or warhead size, or say how many were used.

The demonstration followed North Korea’s “Unmanned Aeronautical Technology Development-2026” exhibition, where Kim called for the country to seize “absolute superiority” in drone technology, Reuters reported, citing KCNA. Tactical suicide drones, tactical cruise missiles, multipurpose drones and a battalion of 600 mm multiple rocket launchers took part. Other targets in the drill were built to resemble South Korean Army guard posts along the Demilitarized Zone and K9 self-propelled howitzers, the open-source account Korea Defense Blog noted in a post.

Photo by KNCA

Exhibition photos show Kim leaning in to inspect a row of the same type of drone, mounted on stands with serial numbers on their fuselages, which suggests the system has moved beyond a single prototype.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects loitering munitions displayed at the 2026 Unmanned Aviation Technology Exhibition. Photo by KNCA

The layout matches UVision’s Hero family: a long tube-shaped body, tandem cruciform wings and a propeller at the rear, a design that lets the munition fold into a launch canister and loiter before diving onto a target. The Hero-400EC, the larger long-range version, weighs about 40 kg (88 pounds) at takeoff, carries a 10 kg (22-pound) warhead and can stay airborne for up to two hours, according to the company. Photos alone cannot show whether North Korea’s drone matches that size or performance, or how it is guided onto its target.

A U.S. Marine Corps Hero-400 loitering munition is staged before flight on San Clemente Island, California, May 25, 2022. Photo by Lance Cpl. Daniel Childs

North Korea has shown similar designs before. When Kim toured drone factories in September, state media photos revealed a one-way attack drone resembling Israeli loitering munitions on an assembly line, alongside airframes matching the Saetbyol-4 and Saetbyol-9 reconnaissance and strike drones, which copy the look of the U.S. RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-9 Reaper.

The choice of target stands out because the design North Korea appears to have copied is in American service. The U.S. Marine Corps has used the Hero-400, and in 2025 the U.S. Army awarded UVision’s U.S. partner Mistral a $982 million contract for loitering munitions. U.S. Army armored units rotating through South Korea operate the M1 Abrams.

Loitering munitions attack from above, where tank armor is thinnest, and both Russia and Ukraine have used them in large numbers against armored vehicles. South Korea’s military said North Korea fired around 10 projectiles on Oct. 29, including short-range ballistic missiles, from the Wonsan area during the same demonstration.