Hanwha Aerospace (012450.KS) has signed a self-propelled howitzer supply contract with the U.S. Army, the first such deal for a Korean-made weapons system. Analysts called it a significant milestone, noting that South Korea — which received artillery support from the United States during the 1950-53 Korean War — has emerged as a key supplier backing the modernization of U.S. artillery forces.
Hanwha Defense USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Hanwha Aerospace, said on the 19th that it had signed a contract to supply six K9 wheeled self-propelled howitzer (K9MH) prototypes to the U.S. Army. As part of the Army's Mobile Tactical Cannon (MTC) program, the base contract is worth $103.02 million, with a cumulative total reaching up to $262.9 million including an option for 12 additional units. The U.S. Army plans to carry out a detailed performance refinement process aligned with its operational concept over the next four years. If no critical defects are found during this customization phase, the deal typically leads to a final mass-production contract.
Hanwha Aerospace's K9MH is a model equipped with an automated turret. Since early this year, the U.S. Army has evaluated multiple global defense firms on delivery timelines, required performance and localization costs, with Hanwha Aerospace clearing this stage to be selected as the final supplier. The contract marks Hanwha Aerospace's successful entry into the global wheeled self-propelled howitzer market, adding to its existing tracked models.
The achievement is seen as the fruit of management's thorough market forecasting and preemptive response. Shortly after Hanwha Group Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan spotted a wheeled self-propelled howitzer development plan in the U.S. Army's budget proposal in March 2024, Hanwha immediately began developing the K9MH in December of the same year. The strategy of identifying, ahead of rivals, the U.S. Army's shift from its previous tracked howitzer development program (ERCA) toward more mobile wheeled systems proved decisive. The company also built a strong foothold in diplomatic and external networks. In January last year, Kim was the only member of a top-10 Korean conglomerate family invited to President Donald Trump's inauguration, holding a series of meetings with key cabinet members including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz to promote Hanwha's defense capabilities. The company said the U.S. network long cultivated by Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, along with his conviction that "defense must be transformed into a global export industry," also served as a solid foundation for the deal.
Close cooperation with the government also helped. Hanwha Aerospace and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) regularly shared key issues and responded nimbly from the early stages of the project through to the final contract. Hanwha plans to further strengthen cooperation with DAPA and other relevant agencies to make a full-scale entry into the U.S. defense market.
Its localization strategy is also moving quickly. In April, Hanwha Aerospace signed a three-year lease on an idle plant in Opelika, Alabama, and plans to expand investment in the local self-propelled howitzer supply chain to help strengthen the U.S. combat vehicle industrial base.
A Hanwha Aerospace official said, "This contract is a meaningful achievement, marking the K9 howitzer's entry into the world's largest defense market, and it carries great significance as a new chapter in the Korea-U.S. alliance in which South Korea's weapons systems protect the United States," adding, "Through a differentiated localization strategy, we will build a stable production base in the U.S. as well."
