Hanwha Defense completes K9 SPH deliveries to South Korean military
Hanwha Defense
has completed deliveries of K9 Thunder 155 mm/52 cal self-propelled howitzers (SPHs) to the South Korean military,
according to a 13 November statement by the country’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
The agency did not reveal
how many K9s have been delivered to the Republic of Korea (RoK) Army and RoK Marine Corps
but Janes
understands that an estimated 1,300 of these tracked systems have been handed over to the country’s military since 1999.
The K9 family of armoured SPHs
was designed and initially manufactured by Samsung Techwin to provide a modernised system
that would be better suited to counter the threats posed by North Korea.
The K9 was first deployed in 1999 to the western border islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong.
According to Janes Land Warfare Platforms:
Artillery and Air Defence, the 46.3-tonne K9
is designed to provide an armoured force with the indirect fire required to defeat conventionally equipped opponents.
The range of the system using standard ammunition
is 18 km, but this can be extended to 30 km through rocket assisted projectiles, or to 40.6 km using advanced base-bleed ammunition.