South Korea on Tuesday (1/2/2022) signed a contract to sell the
self-propelled K9 Howitzer to Egypt in a deal worth more than $1.65 billion.
This marks the first time the artillery system has entered the African
market.
Hanwha Defense, a South Korean manufacturer and the Egyptian defense
ministry signed the largest K9 export deal at Artillery House, a military
facility in Cairo, Egypt. The deal ends more than 10 years of constant talks
between the two sides.
According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the deal
includes the production of the K9 in Egypt and the transfer of technology.
DAPA did not provide other details, including when and how many K9 howitzers
would be supplied to Egypt.
The deal will make Egypt the eighth foreign country to adopt the K9 system.
Other countries that have also opted for the system are Turkey, Poland,
India, Norway, Finland, Estonia, and Australia.
"This is an achievement achieved through a combination of technological
cooperation, collaboration in terms of local production and pan-government
support, which goes beyond the transactional relationship between the two
countries," DAPA head Kang Eun-ho was quoted as saying by Yonhap news
agency.
The K9 accounts for nearly 50 percent of the global self-propelled howitzer
market. Australia recently signed a deal for the K9 under Project LAND 8116
Phase 1. The tracked artillery system meets NATO standards and can be used
in a variety of environments, including snowy terrain and deserts.
Equipped with a 360-degree rotating turret, this 47-ton gun has a firing
range of 40 kilometers and travels as fast as 67 kilometers per hour.
Equipped with an automatic fire control system, the howitzer can fire within
30 seconds from a standstill and within 60 seconds while in motion, at a
rate of detonation from six to eight rounds per minute.
The signings follow last month's summit between President Moon Jae-in and
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo, which DAPA said helped
create much-needed momentum for the deal's completion.
On the sidelines of the agreement, DAPA and the Egyptian defense ministry
also signed a separate memorandum of understanding on bilateral cooperation
in defense research and development.
