Formerly LIG Nex 1, the company traces its defence lineage to 1976 and marks 2026 as its 50th anniversary year. After 18 years operating under the name ‘LIG NEX 1’ – a name chosen to represent the aspiration of becoming tomorrow’s number one – the company is ready to write a new chapter. The first 50 years, as LIG reflects, were dedicated to laying the groundwork for South Korea’s sovereign defence capability. The next 50 years will be defined by leading a global paradigm shift in defence technology through cutting-edge innovation.
This year marks a significant turning point, as the company formally took a significant step by officially incorporating “Aerospace” into its company name and identity. By aligning its core competencies in land, sea, and air with emerging requirements of satellite technology and deep space exploration, ‘LIG Defense & Aerospace’ is positioning itself to lead the fourth industrial revolution in the defence sector.
Founded in 1976 LIG D&A today is a comprehensive, full-spectrum defence enterprise. The company’s journey began with a mission to safeguard national sovereignty through homegrown technology, starting with the maintenance of US HAWK and NIKE missiles and expanding into high-tech development of Precision-Guided Munitions (PGM); Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR); Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber Security (C4I) systems; Maritime warfare systems; Electronic Warfare (EW); Unmanned and Future Warfare platforms. LIG D&A has grown into a globally recognised, fully integrated defence enterprise – designing, producing, and exporting weapons systems across land, sea, air, space, cyber, and future warfare domains.
Central to LIG D&A’s regional value proposition is its air and missile portfolio – an area where the company’s operational credibility in the UAE is well established. The M-SAM II system is already in active operational deployment in the UAE, and looking ahead, while advanced discussions are underway regarding the L-SAM, a next-generation, long-range interception system that would mark a significant step forward in the regional defence capability.
Across all of these systems, LIG D&A’s commitment extends well beyond delivery, encompassing component integration, long-term sustainment, personnel training, and continuous upgrade pathways. What truly sets LIG D&A apart is its role as a full-spectrum systems integrator. With over three decades of experience developing both air defence munitions and the sensors that drive them, the company delivers fully sensor-integrated solutions – where targeting, tracking, and engagement are unified within a single, coherent architecture from the outset, rather than assembled from disconnected standalone systems.
The integration system reaches its fullest through LIG D&A’s active engagement in building a total Command and Control (C2) architecture – bringing every layered capability together under a unified operational framework. The result is an air defence ecosystem in which every element, from sensors to interceptors, functions as a coherent and coordinated whole, ultimately strengthening the UAE’s overall air defence system. It is not simply about supplying hardware; it is about architecting the connective tissue that allows an entire national air defence system to operate with speed, precision, and reliability.
This integration philosophy extends directly to one of the region’s most pressing emerging threats: unmanned aerial systems. LIG D&A’s Anti-Drone solution goes beyond conventional countermeasures, proposing a comprehensive hybrid operational framework that combines hard-kill intercept capability, soft-kill electronic countermeasures, and advanced sensor fusion — designed specifically to maximize response speed, operational efficiency, and cost-effectiveness against the full range of drone threats.
Underpinning all of this is LIG D&A’s Electronic Warfare (EW) division — the most advanced of its kind in South Korea, and increasingly recognized on the global stage. As the strategic importance of jamming and anti-jamming capabilities continues to grow across modern battlefields, LIG D&A has steadily expanded its EW portfolio to encompass Stand-Off Jamming (SOJ) — a capability that places it among a select group of defence companies worldwide able to project electronic dominance far beyond the immediate line of engagement. For partners in the Middle East navigating an increasingly complex electromagnetic environment, this depth of EW expertise represents a critical and differentiating dimension of what LIG D&A brings to the table.
LIG D&A’s aerospace ambitions are perhaps most concretely illustrated through its expanding satellite program. The company delivers end-to-end solutions across the two core pillars of the satellite industry – positioning itself as one of the few defence enterprises capable of implementing a truly integrated satellite architecture from a single platform.
Its satellite portfolio spans both meteorological observation satellites and surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, covering not only the satellite bus and payload development but also ground control systems — a breadth of capability that few regional or global peers can match. Particularly noteworthy is LIG D&A’s investment in dedicated satellite research and manufacturing facilities, through which the company is developing its own proprietary satellite brand. LIG D&A manages every dimension of the satellite life-cycle in-house — from design and production through to ground operations — underscoring its position as a genuine, self-sufficient space systems integrator.
To anchor its regional ambitions, LIG D&A has appointed Gun Hyuk Lee as President for the Middle East and North Africa. A strategic leader with deep experience across the defence industry for more than 37 years, President Lee brings a unified vision of localisation and industrial partnership. To gain more insights into the company, Al Jundi Journal interviewed Gunhyuk Lee to discuss the company’s transformation, regional strategy, and future vision and had the following dialogue with him:
Your appointment coincides with a major corporate transformation – LIG NEX 1’s rebranding as LIG Defense & Aerospace. What does the name change mean from a regional perspective?
When we say LIG Defense & Aerospace, we are making a commitment that our ambitions now extend beyond conventional weapons systems into the full spectrum of future technologies –satellites, unmanned platforms, next –generation aerial systems, and space capabilities. And for this region, this matters enormously. LIG D&A believes the UAE is not simply looking for defence supplies, but rather building sovereign industrial ecosystems that will define its security for generations. By stepping into the aerospace domain formally, LIG D&A is positioning itself as a partner that can accompany these nations across every frontier of modern and future warfare – from the ground to geostationary orbit (~38,000 km). The name change tells our regional partners that we are thinking on the same timescale as they are.
What does your appointment as MENA president represent for LIG D&A’s relationship with the region?
It represents a fundamental transformation in how we approach the UAE and the MENA region. For the last decade of our strong partnership between the UAE and LIG D&A, the UAE was not merely an export destination, but a core pillar to our global operations. My mandate is to integrate our business development, industrial cooperation, and partnership activities under a single, cohesive direction rooted here in the UAE to reach the goal of the UAE’s defence sovereignty through localisation. From strengthening supply chain resilience to advancing operational independence, LIG D&A is committed to the UAE’s In-Country Value (ICV) objective that functions as the cornerstone of a wider industrial footprint that extends across the MENA region.
Localisation is a defining priority across the region in the UAE. How is LIG D&A responding?
Localisation is not a checkbox for us – it is the core of our regional strategy. LIG D&A is fully aligned with the UAE’s ‘Make it in the Emirates’ initiative and national industrial visions across the region. Our goal is to go beyond delivering systems – we want to establish local production capabilities, enable technology transfer, develop MRO infrastructure, and support joint R&D initiatives. LIG D&A has accumulated decades of experience across the full ecosystem of defence systems, from development through to sustainment, and we are committed to sharing the expertise here in a structured way in the UAE, where it actively constructs sovereign and generational defence capabilities.
Could you share some insights into LIG D&A’s future plans and strategic direction?
The first 50 years of our company were spent building South Korea’s defence sovereignty. The next 50 years will be defined by partnering with nations like the UAE to build theirs. LIG Defense & Aerospace is here for the long term –not to sell, but to build, together. We believe the UAE’s ambition in defence industrialisation is unparalleled, and we are committed to growing alongside it. With our new name, our new leadership, and concrete industrial commitments already underway, LIG D&A believes this is the only beginning.
» Interviewed by: ALJUNDI
