The Spanish Defence Ministry has become the latest European customer for South Korea’s K9 Thunder 155 mm self-propelled howitzer, with Hanwha Aerospace signing an export contract with Spanish defence company Indra Sistemas on August 31. The agreement expands South Korea’s position Europe’s leading suppliers of modern artillery systems. The contract is linked to a major Spanish artillery modernisation effort reportedly valued at approximately €4.55 billion ($5.3 billion).
K9 Mobile Howitzers
The Spanish Army plans to procure up to 128 tracked artillery vehicles, 120 ammunition resupply vehicles, 21 recovery vehicles and 11 command-and-control vehicles. Rather than simply purchasing South Korean-built systems, Spain has sought a deeper industrial partnership involving domestic production and technology transfer. The relatively small scale of procurements, and limitations of Spanish industry, mean that the extent of domestic production are expected to be limited. Nevertheless, Indra will manufacture vehicle hulls in Spain, retain design authority over the resulting systems, and integrate its own mission systems, battlefield management software and communications equipment.
Finnish Army K9 Howitzer – Finnish MoD
The Spanish order for K9 howitzers follows the Finnish Defence Ministry’s order for 112 additional K9 in April, bringing its total order to 208 howitzers. The K9 has been particularly popular in Europe, and recently emerged as a frontrunner for the Swedish Defence Ministry’s selection of a new artillery system, while Romania has the systems on order, and Finland, Norway, Poland, Turkey, and Estonia already field them. The procurement of large numbers of K9s is thought to have been heavily influenced by lessons from the war in Ukraine, as the conflict has highlighted the central role which self-propelled guns can play in modern warfare.
North Korean 170mm Howitzers Now Widely in Russian Service
The K9 has consistently outperformed the rival German Panzerhaubitze 2000 (PzH 2000) during tenders, much like the South Korean K2 tank has also proven much more competitive than its Western rivals including the German Leopard 2. The K9’s increasingly widespread deployment in Europe is placing significantly greater pressure on Russian defences, with the howitzer far outmatching the capabilities of the large majority of Russian self-propelled howitzers, and being rivalled only by the new 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV which began to enter service in limited numbers from 2023. While European states rely increasingly on South Korean howitzers, Russia has benefitted considerably from the delivery of North Korean howitzers, with the long ranges and high precision of North Korean 170mm guns having been singled out specifically be senior Ukrainian officers as a major challenge facing by Army units on the frontlines.