The Haegung missile was developed by South Korean Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and LIG Nex1. It has been designed to replace Raytheon’s RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile and provide close-in defense for warships. The Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy plans to deploy the local weapon system on warships such as next-generation landing ships, mine laying ships, frigates, etc. It is already fitted aboard Daegu-class frigates and ROKS Marado.
Haegung’s first successful test was in 2018, and the DAPA signed the first production contract in 2019, followed by a series of missile tests on naval ships.
Haegung is equipped with dual-mode seeker that is composed of a radar and an infrared seeker, enabling the efficient use in versatile maritime environment, as a both offensive and defensive weapon against hostile anti-ship guided missiles and aircrafts. Since the Vertical Launching System (VLS) launcher has been adopted as a launching platform, it is capable of omnidirectional multi-engagement regardless of a mother ship’s maneuvering status and target position. The maximum range is 20 km and maximum speed Mach 2.
The CEO of LIG Nex1, Ji-chan Kim said:
“We have been putting all possible efforts to improve the credibility of our localized guided weapon. We sincerely appreciate all people who actively supported to finish this firing test successfully from the DAPA, ADD, and the DTaQ.
Another informed source of the company told the press, “750 billion KRW-sized business is ongoing until 2036, from which we expect to vitalize the defense industry and create jobs.”
LIG Nex1 has already signed an export contract of the anti-ship missile ‘Haeseong’ (SSM-700K C-Star) to South America, and LIG is about to export Cheongung-II (M-SAM), now planning to take advantage of accumulated technical and sales knowledge of localized guided weapons in order to develop other future systems including anti-long range artillery defense system.
