Rheinmetall to make low-cost anti-glide bomb missiles in joint venture

German arms giant Rheinmetall and South Korea’s LIG Defence & Aerospace plan to set up a joint venture to build guided missiles that can destroy glide bombs at a low cost, the German company said on Monday.

Rheinmetall is set to retain a majority stake in the venture, the firm said at the Eurosatory defence fair in Paris.

Guided missiles are usually sold at the upper end of the five-figure euro range, meaning they are cheaper than larger missiles, which can cost over €1 million ($116 million) and have been used to defend against glide bombs because there are no other options so far.

Russian glide bombs have caused massive destruction in the more than four-year-old war in Ukraine.

Russian aircraft transport them to the border or the front line, where they are released and glide the final stretch through the air.

As they have no heat signature, they are difficult for air defences to detect and surface-to-air missiles are ineffective against them.

The guided missiles envisaged by Rheinmetall can mitigate this threat and at least partially balance the cost-benefit ratio.

LIG D&A, based in Yongin, achieved an annual turnover equivalent to €2.5 billion in 2025 with a workforce of around 6,000, up by about a third compared to the previous year.

Rheinmetall posted a turnover of around €10 billion in 2025. The Dusseldorf-based company employs 34,000 people worldwide.

The South Korean firm specializes in missiles, sonar systems and unmanned surface vehicles.