South Korea is one of the fastest-growing arms exporters in the world, with its military sales soaring by 177% during the past five years. Boasting the highest increase in the volume of exports of major arms among the top 20 suppliers, South Korea became the eighth largest arms exporter in 2017-2021, far outpacing the growth of France, Italy and Australia.

ROK defense companies sell a broad range of homegrown products, including tanks and artillery, mid-range surface-to-air missiles and self-propelled howitzers. Moving forward, the country's defense technology is expected to develop further; after completing successful flight tests of its homegrown KF-21 fighter jet, South Korea joined an elite club of just seven countries that have locally developed supersonic fighter jets.