The Minister of Economy visited the Hanwha headquarters in South Korea. Romania, interested in K9 Thunder howitzers

A Romanian delegation visited the Hanwha headquarters in South Korea to discuss the cooperation between Romania and South Korea in the field of defense.

“A distinguished delegation from the Government of Romania, led by Ştefan Radu-Oprea, Minister of Economy, visited the Hanwha Aerospace Headquarters in Seoul, on March 26, to meet with Jaeil Son, President and CEO of the company, and other heads of the largest aerospace and defense group in South Korea”, the company said on Linkedin.

“Both sides exchanged perspectives on how to improve bilateral ties in a variety of fields, as Hawha Aerospace, a subsidiary of South Korea’s seventh company, conducts activities in all fields, from land to the air, maritime and space”, the message published by the company’s representatives also states.

At the end of February, kedglobal.com announced that Hanwha Aerospace Co., the main developer of aerospace and defense systems in South Korea, is to sign a 1,000 billion won ($751 million) contract to supply K9 howitzers to Romania month, in what would be his first export agreement to our country and the sixth in Europe.

The company said at the time that it would announce an arms export agreement with Romania in the first quarter of this year.

It is about 54 tracked self-propelled howitzers K9, for equipping the first Romanian battalion with 155 mm NATO caliber artillery pieces. The Romanian press presented, based on sources, that the company from South Korea was the only one that met the requirements of the Ministry of National Defense, in an auction in which companies from Germany and Turkey also participated.

Lieutenant General Teodor Incicaş, the head of the General Directorate of Armaments, announced, as early as March 2023, that Romania will acquire, for the first time, howitzers of 155 mm. A few months later, on July 30, the tender was launched for battalion-level self-propelled howitzers, with the aim of “providing direct indirect fire support to maneuver forces,” as the Army announcement stated. The contract for the “Cal howitzer system. Battalion Level 155mm, 155mm Explosive Projectile Shot, 155mm Smoke Projectile Shot, 155mm Illumination Projectile Shot, 155mm Inert Projectile Shot (for Training)”, is estimated to be worth 4,184,614,517 lei, and the duration of the contract is 60 months.

The Ministry of National Defense launched the limited tender for three battalions of 155 mm self-propelled howitzers, three systems, and almost 20,000 artillery pieces of the same caliber, for an estimated amount of over 4 billion lei.

The contract includes 54 tracked self-propelled 155 mm howitzers, and each system is composed of 18 howitzers, 9 spare tubes, 12 ammunition transport and loading machines, 9 self-propelled artillery observation posts, 1 weather station, 3 technical means of evacuation of damaged equipment and 3 acoustic research systems.

At the same time, together with the Horse Howitzer System. 155 mm Battalion level, the supplier is obliged to deliver the following types of ammunition: 155 mm shot with explosive projectiles (17,352), smoke (324), lighting (324) and inert, for training (720).

MApN announced that it will evaluate the offer based on price (30%) and technical proposal (70%). The development of the contract will be for a period of five years and a minimum number of three candidates must be registered, it is also stated in the Tender Sheet.

In the second stage, MApN wants to purchase two more systems needed to equip two battalions, 36 pieces.

The K9 Thunder howitzer entered the service of the South Korean army in 1999, and was later purchased or ordered by other countries. Finland ordered and received 48 howitzers, India ordered 100, of which 25 were delivered in 2018, Estonia ordered 18 howitzers, the delivery of which began in 2020 and will end in 2023. And Norway, Australia, Egypt and Poland ordered this type of howitzer from the South Koreans. In 2020 alone, 1,700 K9 howitzers were produced.

The K9 Thunder is compatible with NATO 155 mm ammunition and standard projectiles have a range of 30 to 40 km. It can launch three projectiles in 15 seconds, each with different trajectories so that all projectiles reach the target at the same time. The engine of the vehicle used is the German MTU MT 881 Ka500 diesel, the same engine used for the PzH 2000 howitzer, proposed by Germany.