Army to ditch physical keys for firearms storage, shift to biometric digital system

The Army has decided to overhaul its firearms storage management system, replacing physical keys and handwritten logs with digital authentication.

The Army announced the plan Friday at a logistics policy briefing held at the Army General Supply Depot in Sejong, presided over by Maj. Gen. Ha Heon-cheol, chief of the Army Logistics Staff.

Under current regulations, gun cabinets must be secured with two separate locks — one on top and one on the bottom — with two different personnel each holding a key. In practice, however, units have routinely bypassed the rule for convenience, and key losses have been a recurring problem. The physical dual-lock system has also drawn criticism for generating excessive administrative work, including the maintenance of access logs and key-transaction records.

The Army will replace existing locks with a dual-lock system using mobile near-field communication (NFC) digital locks, and expand the use of biometric smart gun cabinets. The new cabinets require fingerprint or vein scans from both the soldier receiving the weapon and the supervising officer before the door will open. Access and return records are transmitted in real time to command-and-control centers and other management units, allowing commanders to immediately track any weapons removal. The digital locks will first be piloted this year at three units, including the 9th Division, to verify military suitability before being rolled out across all units by 2034.

Military officials and outside observers have long warned that commanders have no quick way to detect unauthorized removal of firearms or live ammunition. Similar incidents have continued to occur — most recently at a Marine Corps unit in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. A joint civilian-military special advisory committee's subcommittee on military death prevention recommended in January that the Ministry of National Defense introduce a real-time RFID tracking system for all firearms.

Transport drones will also be deployed to speed up logistics support for combat units. The Army plans to introduce 40-kilogram-payload transport drones for mountainous and isolated areas where vehicle access is difficult, with a total of 68 drones to be put into service by 2036.

Military supply warehouses, which have relied heavily on manual labor, will be converted to AI- and robot-based automated systems. The Army's 1st Supply Brigade smart logistics center currently holds a Grade 2 rating under Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport standards; the Army plans to upgrade it to Grade 1 by 2028 by deploying autonomous forklifts and automated guided vehicle robots.

"We will integrate civilian expertise and advanced technologies such as AI and robotics into our logistics operations, creating conditions where soldiers can focus on training and missions while ensuring timely logistics support for combat units," Ha said.