South Korea’s Lincsolution Lands Hanwha Defense Deal as Hanwha Invests Billions in US

I recently wrote about how the South Korean additive manufacturing (AM) firm Lincsolution is building an aerospace and defense hub, part of the company’s construction of “the largest AM facility in South Korea”, a 200,000+ square foot facility that Lincsolution plans to open in December. I discussed that development in the context of signs of rising AM adoption in South Korea, and as that relates to South Korea being caught in the middle between the US and China in the ongoing trade war.

Barely a month later, Lincsolution announced a supply contract with Hanwha Aerospace, South Korea’s largest defense contractor. While the announcement is somewhat light on details, what it does provide is noteworthy, especially given other recent news involving Hanwha.

To begin, the contract is for lunar lander engines and thrusters, which is interesting for multiple reasons. First off, South Korea’s space industry is smaller than one would expect it to be given South Korea’s status as a high-tech manufacturing powerhouse in other areas, most notably chips. Second, South Korea has made growing its commercial space industry a priority, aiming to increase its share of the global market more than fourfold (from 0.7 to 3.0 percent) by 2030.

Further, the size of the contract, around 1.4 billion won, or around $1 million, isn’t so remarkable, but Lincsolution does note that the amount is just under 11 percent of what the company reported in 2025 revenue. Moreover, Lincsolution recently projected that its 2026 revenue will nearly double YOY, and that it expects its revenue to nearly double again YOY in 2027. The takeaway is that Lincsolution is still operating on a fairly small scale, but it’s growing rapidly and views that growth rate as sustainable at least for the next few years.

Additionally, given the size of the Hanwha contract relative to Lincsolution’s overall revenue, we can assume Hanwha is one of the company’s most important customers, especially given Hanwha’s position in the South Korean defense market, which appears to be Lincsolution’s key target vertical. Hanwha’s importance to Lincsolution is reinforced by the announcement’s detail that “Lincsolution has performed similar contracts with Hanwha Aerospace over the past three years”. Whether this refers to the type of work to be done, the financial conditions of the deal, or both, who knows; another interesting detail is that Lincsolution noted the contract timeframe is just three months (9/30-12/31).

Finally, the most intriguing angle of all in this story is that Hanwha Defense USA, the American subsidiary, has invested $2.2 billion in Arkansas to move its headquarters and build an advanced manufacturing campus in Pine Bluff, specifically at the US Army’s Pine Bluff Arsenal. Hanwha Defense USA plans to finish construction by 2030 and will begin operations the following year. Manufacturing Dive reports that this was originally a $1.3 billion investment that increased substantially in part due to customer feedback.

In August, the Army awarded Hanwha Defense USA a contract worth up to $263 million over four years to produce and test up to 18 prototypes of Self-Propelled Howitzers. As for the Pine Bluff Arsenal operations, Hanwha Defense USA “will produce propellant charges for 155mm artillery and base-bleed units,” emphasizing both automation and safety in the manufacturing processes.

Now, perhaps Lincsolution won’t be getting involved in any of these deals, but the proximity of its own announcement to Hanwha’s Arkansas investment announcement is worth making note of. Lincsolution not only provides services for both polymer and metal but also makes its own SLS 3D printers, and, as I wrote about last month, it makes expeditionary systems as well. The lunar landing gear contract is for the South Korean market, but all of Lincsolution’s capabilities are relevant to everything that Hanwha’s American subsidiary is in the process of doing.

On top of that, in its August announcement, Lincsolution said that it’s working towards compliance with the Pentagon’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program, Phase 2 of which is currently in limbo. Its defense operations, then, clearly aren’t just about the South Korean domestic market. And, by the way, Hanwha Defense USA made an offer in August to buy Austal’s US business. Austal USA, of course, is essentially running the US Navy’s AM buildout, while South Korea is the second-largest shipbuilding nation in the world.

Lots of things happening! If nothing else, it confirms that we should be paying closer attention to South Korea’s AM market.

Featured image courtesy of Lincsolution