Egypt will begin local manufacture of K9 self-propelled howitzers next year following an order for hundreds of the systems from South Korea’s Hanwha Defence.
Mohamed Ahmed Morsi, Egypt’s minister of state for military production, told Al-Ahram last month that local production will eventually see 67% of components being produced in Egypt. Training workers and equipping the K9 assembly factory is underway.
In February this year Egypt and Hanwha Defence signed a roughly $1.7 billion agreement for the acquisition of K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers. Around 200 artillery systems will be supplied along with support vehicles including the K10 ammunition resupply vehicle and K11 fire control vehicle, Defense News reported.
Hanwha said the first batch of K9A1 EGY systems will be delivered before 2025, with the remainder to be produced at the state-run Military Factory 200 in Egypt through technology transfer. In addition, Hanwha Defence is committed to providing a variety of support programmes, including user trainings and organizational/field/depot maintenance.