Hanwha Defense secures land for K9 howitzer production in Australia

Hanwha Defense Co. announced Wednesday it has secured a large property in Australia for building a production facility for the K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzer and Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs.)

This marks the first time a South Korean defense company has secured a production facility abroad. 

The integrated defense systems manufacturer will build the 32,000 square meter facility in Geelong, a city located southwest of Melbourne. 

The construction will begin as soon as late next month and is expected to take about two years to complete.

The Australian government expects the facility to create some 300 local jobs. Hanwha partners will also be able to work out of the new building as necessary.

“The new facility will help maintain collaborative relations with our local partners and produce self-propelled howitzer and IFVs for delivery to South Korea and Europe,” a Hanwha employee familiar with the development said. 

The defense arm of Hanwha Corp. is the world’s biggest self-propelled howitzer manufacturer by market share. 

Developed jointly with South Korea's Agency for Defense Development in 1998, the 155-mm K9 offers one of the world’s highest levels of performance with a maximum range of 40 km and a maximum speed of 67 km per hour. 

It can fire within 30 seconds from a stationary position and within 60 seconds on the move. The K9 is capable of firing at a burst rate of three rounds in fewer than 15 seconds and a total of 18 rounds continuously for three minutes.

Depending on the results of an ongoing bid for a contract with the Australian army, Hanwha will also produce its IFV dubbed AS21 Redback out of the Geelong facility as well.

Hanwha developed the fifth generation IVF in conjunction with Israel, Canada, and Australia. In March 2021, the Australian Army received three Redback IFV prototypes for evaluations and blast testing. 

Hanwha is competing against Germany’s Rheinmetall AG for the project worth 5 trillion won ($4.2 billion.) 

Back in Dec. last year, Hanwha announced it inked a deal with Australia’s Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group to sell 30 units of the self-propelled howitzers, which will be branded as the AS9 Huntsman in the country, and 15 AS10 armored resupply vehicles.

The deal was known to be worth around 930 billion won, the largest export contract for the artillery system.

This marked the first for a South Korean defense company to export K9 Thunder to the Five Eyes, an intelligence-sharing alliance consisting of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. 
 
Hanwha Defense Australia's managing director Richard Cho said, “The location of the new facility being a strategic one helps to solidify Hanwha’s defense business in Australia.” 

Write to Jeong Min Nam at peux@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.