Military representatives from six of the countries operating the 155 mm/52-calibre K9 Thunder tracked self-propelled howitzer (SPH) developed by South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace convened in Helsinki, Finland, from 23-26 January 2024 for the third annual K9 User Club meeting.
Around 50 military delegates from K9 user nations South Korea, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Poland and Australia attended the meeting, while representatives from the United States also attended as observers.
The K9 SPH is in active service with seven countries – South Korea, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Poland, India, and Türkiye – while Australia and Egypt are preparing to field the system in the coming years.
The three-day meeting also included delegates from defence companies such as Millog from Finland; Kongsberg from Norway; HSW from Poland; Van Haltern from the Netherlands and Soucy from Canada for discussions on industrial partnerships.
During the three-day meeting the participating nations gave presentations on operating their K9 systems with a focus on sharing experience, knowledge and know-how regarding the operation, maintenance, and training regime for the K9. Working group sessions were also held to discuss K9 best practice with regard to maintenance, tactics and training. The delegates also toured the K9 maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) site of Millog, the local K9 supplier for the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF), along with an FDF K9 base in Hameenlinna.
Representatives from South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) also shared the developmental roadmap for the next-generation K9A2 and K9A3 variants over the next decade. The K9A2 will integrate a fully automated turret, delivering enhanced levels of automation, lethality, survivability, and digitalisation. The K9A3 will be capable of an extended range through the integration of a 58-calibre barrel, “alongside the inclusion of further automation and artificial intelligence to deliver crewed and uncrewed teaming solutions to maximise lethality and survivability outcomes”, according to Hanwha.
The K9 manufacturer also took the opportunity during the event to unveil a plan to establish a K9 spare parts centre in Europe to provide K9 customer nations in the region with more effective and systematic integrated logistics support. Vice President Cho Sang-hwan, head of Hanwha Aerospace’s MRO Business Group, was quoted in a company press release as saying, “Hanwha Aerospace prioritises delivering proper solutions to K9 user nations to ensure stable operation and maintenance of the K9 SPH. In that regard, we are fully committed to offering the most effective logistics support to our customers.”
The K9 is billed by Hanwha as “the world’s most popular SPH”, with around 1,800 units now in service, accounting for over 50% of the global market share for SPH platforms. The K9 “can deliver consistent, accurate, rapid effects at ranges of more than 40 km with high rates and volumes of fire” Hanwha stated in its press release, adding that the K9 is optimised for ‘shoot and scoot’ tactics, where multiple rounds are fired before the SPH immediately moves to a different location to avoid counter-battery fire.
The K9 User Club was launched in April 2022 in Changwon, South Korea, with the aim of rotational hosts, while the second meeting took place in Norway.
