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The successful deployment and sustainment of the K9 Kõu by the Estonian Defence Forces exemplify how shared commitment and close collaboration can translate into real, proven capability on the ground. This enduring partnership has not only improved interoperability but also built lasting trust between Hanwha Aerospace and Estonia.
Looking ahead, Hanwha Aerospace remains committed to supporting Estonia’s defense modernization efforts and exploring new avenues for cooperation—further reinforcing regional security and the resilience of the NATO alliance.
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Military representatives from countries operating the K9 Self-PropelledHowitzer (SPH) have gathered in Krakow, Poland, to get the best practice of theworld’s most combat-proven 155mm/52-calibre artillery system.
Hosted by the Polish Army, the fourth K9 User Club is to be held fromApril 8-10 to share the K9 user nations’ knowledge, experience and know-howwith regards to the operation, maintenance, and training regime for the K9howitzer systems.
Over 150 military and industry delegates are participating in thethree-day K9 user community event, with the attendance of seven K9 usercountries _ South Korea, Poland, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Australia andRomania. The United States and Sweden have joined as observers. Industrydelegates from Poland, Norway, Finland also joined the event to discuss ways ofstrengthening collaboration and partnerships.
“This is the biggest K9 User Club event since the launch of the usercommunity in 2022, with much greater attention to the K9’s operationaleffectiveness and interoperability among the allied nations,”
said VicePresident Cho Sang-hwan, Head of MRO Business Group, Hanwha Aerospace.
“As themanufacturer of the K9 SPH, our company is more focused on product improvementsand enhanced maintenance services based on customer needs and expectations.”
On the first day of the event, participating nations gave presentationson operating their K9 systems, while South Korean delegates from the DefenseAcquisition Program Administration and the Agency for Defense Developmentpresented the incremental development of the K9 toward manned-unmanned teamingand autonomous solutions.
Hanwha Aerospace highlighted an AI-based MRO platform called TOMMS, enablingreal-time equipment monitoring, remote support & mobile services withoutconstraints of time and location.
On the second day,participants will join separate working sessions on operation, maintenance,training, and ammunition compatibility. On the last day, the user group isscheduled to visit the artillery manufacturing facility of Huta Stalowa WolaS.A. and the 18th Artillery Brigade in Nowa Deba, to observe the fielddeployment of K9s.
“I’m glad to seethat the largest K9 User Club to date – a hub for sharing knowledge andoperational experience with this advanced artillery system – is taking placetoday in Poland, a country not only a strategic partner for Korea, but aboveall, a pioneer in modernizing its armed forces,”
said Mr. Michael Coulter,President and CEO of Hanwha Global Defense.
“I want to thank the PolishArmed Forces for the excellent organization of this event, and I’m proud thatHanwha Aerospace could support this important initiative and that our systemsare now the focus of interest for allied countries.”
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- It hurt how donald duck's world has changed. You see, you know, and you can't do anything about it. The reason...🤡 😡- With all three Baltic countries recently committing to spending 5% of GDP on defence, it should also raise a separate goal of strengthening local defence industries, so that more of that money stay in local economies.
- I wonder with what we, Latvians, will replace our M109A5ö howitzers when the time comes. Mind you, I'm often critical or have lots of questions about our larger defence procurements, but Latvian M109 procurement was sheer luck and good one at that, AFAIK what we paid for them was close to scrap metal with performance close to American Palladin model if you'd allow me to slightly exaggerate and I loved that we got average price per unit if I recall correctly around 50k euros! We are now looking into getting wheeled SPH systems to supplement M109's, but that will take years as usual. Now, don't get me started about our first large procurement that began in 2013/2014 - CVRT for example was total failure which MoD and head of NBS(National Armed Forces of Latvian) tried to sell us as the next best thing after sliced bread and sex calling those tiny recon machines "tank hunters" and trying hard to implant the idea into public minds that it's almost an IFV class machine and what not 😂! Now it seems since the money started flowing years ago that CVRT platform has been getting silent treatment by MoD talking heads and soon to be retired/donated, oh how fast those clerks and generals have forgotten the unsubstantiated praise that they sung for that platform 😅!
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