LIG Defense&Aerospace (formerly LIG Nex1) said on the 22nd (local time) it will export the shipborne air-defense guided weapon "Haegung" to Malaysia.
LIG D&A signed a contract with the Ministry of National Defense of Malaysia on site at the Defence Services Asia (DSA) 2026, the largest defense exhibition in Southeast Asia, being held in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, on the same day. The contract is worth $94 million (about 140 billion won).
Haegung is a domestically developed ship-to-air guided missile. It is launched from a ship into the air and was developed to intercept aerial threats. It was developed in 2011 under the lead of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD). Mass production began in earnest in 2019, and the weapon system has been deployed on Navy ships since 2021.
Haegung consists of a launch control unit, transmitter, vertical launch system, and guided missile. The missile is about 3 meters long, has a top speed of Mach 2 (about 2,470 kph), and is assessed to have a range of about 15–20 kilometers. Because multiple rounds are loaded in a single launch cell, it improves operational efficiency.
It has received positive reviews because it is equipped with Haegung's dual-mode seeker. The system reportedly uses both a radar (RF) and an infrared (IR) seeker simultaneously, allowing stable target tracking even in electronic warfare environments or complex jamming situations.
The exported Haegung is slated to be mounted on the Royal Malaysian Navy's littoral patrol ships built by Turkish defense company STM. As a case in which LIG D&A succeeded in exports through cooperation with an overseas platform company, it is being seen as opening a new model for advancing overseas export projects.
Since the export contract was signed at a Southeast Asian defense exhibition, attention is on whether demand for Korean defense products will expand across the region.
An LIG D&A official said, "Beyond Malaysia, we plan to continue introducing advanced technologies, including a multilayer integrated air-defense solution, to Southeast Asia and global markets as we work to expand exports."