| On the opening day of the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition held at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday, foreign attendees look around advanced weapons produced by South Korean arms-makers on display. (Yonhap) |
GOYANG, Gyeonggi Province -- At Kintex Exhibition Center II in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday, long lines of visitors streamed into the exhibition halls where large logos of South Korea’s leading defense firms came into view.
Nearly half of the attendees were foreign buyers and participants, underscoring the growing global interest in Korea’s defense industry.
At the exhibitions of Hanwha Group, LIG Nex1, Hyundai Rotem and Korea Aerospace Industries, massive screens played dramatic videos of uncrewed combat aircraft, air-to-air missiles and armored vehicles with booming sound effects. Military officers in uniform and defense industry officials in suits pointed at the screens, engaging in animated discussions.
Following the opening ceremony of the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition 2025 on Monday, the event’s “Business Day” was held at Kintex. Running through Friday, the “Business Day” sessions are primarily open to professionals and buyers in the aerospace and defense industries.
With “K-defense” continuing to enjoy strong momentum, 2025’s ADEX has drawn more than 600 companies from 35 countries — exceeding the 550 companies from 34 countries that took part in the 2023 edition — making it the largest since its launch in 1996 as the Seoul Air Show. The indoor exhibition space also expanded 58.1 percent from 31,000 square meters in 2023 to 49,000 square meters to accomodate the surging global interest in Korea’s defense sector.
The most eye-catching pavillion belonged to Hanwha Group. Its three defense affiliates — Hanwha Aerospace, Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Ocean — jointly operated their largest-ever integrated pavilion of 1,960 square meters under the theme “AI Defense for Tomorrow.” The exhibition space was designed in the shape of a large letter “A,” symbolizing artificial intelligence.
At the center stood a full-scale model of the Very Low Earth Orbit Ultra High-Resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, capable of identifying objects as small as mobile phones or coffee cups from up to 400 kilometers above Earth.
LIG Nex1 divided its exhibition into five zones — detection, defense, dominance, control and command — presenting its vision for the future battlefield. The concept involves swiftly detecting threats, defending the skies with precision-guided long-range surface-to-air missiles, securing airspace superiority and enabling rapid command decisions. The booth featured full-scale mockups of key advanced weapons, including the long-range air-to-ground missile (KALCM).
Hyundai Rotem drew attention by unveiling for the first time the Polish version of the K2 main battle tank.
KAI unveiled for the first time its next-generation air combat system, which integrates the KF-21 fighter jet with uncrewed combat and multipurpose drones to form a combined manned-unmanned operational fleet.
KAI also announced that it has partnered with LG Electronics to jointly develop a next-generation flight simulator visual system. By combining KAI’s simulator expertise with LG’s display technology, the companies aim to lead the global flight training equipment market. Under the new agreement, they will co-develop a micro LED display-based flight simulator visual system. Moving beyond traditional projector setups, the system will leverage micro LED’s superior resolution, contrast and brightness to set a new standard for both domestic and international simulator systems. The memorandum of understanding was signed at ADEX 2025 on Tuesday.
Industry officials expect that this year’s expanded ADEX will generate defense export contracts and consultations exceeding $30 billion, surpassing the $29.3 billion achieved at the 2023 event and $23 billion in 2021.
