Romania purchases Korean K9 airborne assault vehicles for $920 million

Korean defence giant Hanwha has announced the successful conclusion of a firm contract with Romania for the supply of K9 self-propelled artillery systems.

Here's What We Know

This deal is the result of winning a tender announced by Bucharest in July 2023. This is a significant milestone for Korean exports, as the Romanian armed forces became the tenth K9 user in the world and the sixth from NATO. South Korea already cooperates with Turkey, Poland, Norway, Finland, and Estonia.

The total value of the deal is $920 million, for which Romania will purchase 54 K9s, 36 K10 armoured vehicles for transport and loading, as well as the necessary ammunition and logistics.

This is a significant upgrade for the Romanian army, as their artillery currently consists mainly of outdated Soviet systems. For example, Romania has only 6 122mm 2C1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery systems and 34 licensed versions of the Model 89, and these are all self-propelled artillery systems.

It is also important that Korea traditionally stipulates in such contracts the localisation of production, which will be carried out in Romania to an unknown extent.

Flashback

The K9 self-propelled artillery system is a modern self-propelled artillery system developed by Samsung Techwin (now Hanwha Defence). The K9 Thunder is equipped with a 155 mm cannon that has a range of up to 40 km (with special ammunition, it can reach 50 km). The system is capable of firing three rounds within 15 seconds thanks to an automatic loading system. The maximum rate of fire is up to 6 rounds per minute. The K9 also has a powerful diesel engine that provides speeds of up to 67 km/h on the highway and high cross-country ability in difficult terrain.

Source: Hanwha Aerospace