According to Defense Arabic on September 9, 2024, Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet Al-Abbasi announced that the contract for the South Korean Cheongung-II (M-SAM II) air defense missile system has been finalized and will be signed next week. According to Heo Baek-yoon, the contract involves eight batteries of this system, also known as the “Korean Patriot,” and is expected to be worth around 3.5 trillion Korean won, or approximately $2.63 billion. This marks another step in expanding South Korea’s defense exports in the Middle East, following previous deals with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.
Al-Abbasi also mentioned new agreements aimed at developing and upgrading the Iraqi army’s artillery, including a contract for the French CAESAR 155mm self-propelled howitzer and plans to modernize the M1A1 Abrams tanks. He added that under Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Iraq’s approach to military procurement has shifted, with technical committees enabling flexible payment terms for weapons contracts spread over eight years to minimize the impact on the national budget.
The KM-SAM (Korean Medium-range Surface-to-Air Missile), also known as Cheolmae-2 or Cheongung, is a South Korean missile defense system developed by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) in collaboration with Russia’s Almaz-Antey and Fakel, incorporating technology from the 9M96 missile used in the Russian S-350E and S-400 systems. Development began in 2001, leading to the completion of Block-I missiles by 2011 and Block-II by 2017, with Block-III set to begin in 2024. Designed to replace the older MIM-23 Hawk batteries in South Korea’s missile defense architecture, the KM-SAM is part of a multi-layered defense strategy, targeting both aircraft and ballistic missiles with guidance systems that combine inertial navigation, midcourse updates, and terminal active radar homing.