As previously reported, South Korea's Hanwha Defense has won a contract for the procurement of 'heavy' defense equipment to a country in Africa, namely the sale of the K9 Thunder self propelled howitzer to Egypt worth more than 2 trillion won (US$1.65 billion) and marks the first the first time the K9 was sold to a customer in Africa.
As is usual for large defense contracts, South Korea also provided technology transfers, and it was confirmed that the K9 tracked self propelled howitzer package would be made locally in Egypt.
And recently there was news, as a form of technology transfer (ToT), the Egyptian defense company, Arab International Optronics Company has signed an agreement with Hanwha Defense Group to produce locally the Automatic Fire Control System (FCS) and other electronic components for the K9A1 155 mm which will be produced in Egypt.
Quoted from Armyrecognition.com (23/10/2022), with the new agreement above, the Egyptian defense industry will have the ability to produce locally 70 percent of the K9 self-propelled howitzer with the first production in 2023. With the production of the K9 howitzer in Egypt, the Pyramid Country is also expected to export K9 to Arab and African countries.
The procurement of the SPH K9 was successful after years of negotiations between Hanwha Defense and the Egyptian Ministry of Defense.
Negotiations reportedly began in 2017, while Egypt has been eyeing the K9 since at least 2010. So far, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has not provided details on how many K9 units the Egyptian Army will acquire.
The K9 Thunder is the most successful South Korean 'heavy' weapon product in the global market. Why not, this self-tracked propelled howitzer (SPH) is considered to be in demand by several large countries that have a world-class military reputation.
The K9 Thunder variant has been acquired by Estonia, Finland, Norway, India, Poland and Turkey. Because it was purchased by big countries that are strong in the production line of defense equipment, then several K9 Thunder have been created with customization, according to user needs and of course there is a demand to produce K9 Thunder in the buyer's country. Hanwha Defense has announced the start of talks with the UK Ministry of Defense to supply the K9 to Britain.
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Traced from its development history, the K9 adopted the design of the M109 Paladin, a US-made self-tracked propelled howitzer currently used by the Armed TNI AD. As a US ally, South Korea has long been a loyal user of the M109 Paladin.
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