Samsung Techwin to send Korean K9s to Poland

A Korean arms manufacturer is set to export its indigenously developed K9 self-propelled howitzer to Poland.

According to a Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration official Thursday, the manufacturer of the K9s, Samsung Techwin, is expected to ink a contract with the Eastern European country later this month to export about 120 K9 Thunder howitzers.

The deal is expected to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The official said that the K9s will be exported unassembled, however, and that Samsung will export the frame, which Poland will mount to its domestically developed turret.

This is the first time Korea has exported K9s since 2001, when it arranged a deal with Turkey in 2001 to deliver 350 howitzers there for $1 billion. It received its first batch of K9s in 2004.

Poland will be the second country to receive exported Korean K9s.

The 155-millimeter 52-caliber self-propelled howitzers have been developed since 1989 and deployed in the Korean Army since 1999.

Hanwha Group last month acquired Samsung Techwin, the largest arms builder in the country and the manufacturer of its K9s as well as engines for a wide range of aircrafts, including the light attacker FA-50s.

Combined sales from Hanwha and Samsung Techwin stands at $2.277 billion, elevating Hanwha to become one of the world’s top 40 arms builders. This follows Korea’s expansion of overseas arms sales.

In March, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) signed a $420 million deal with the Philippines to export 16 FA-50 light combat aircraft to the Southeast Asian country.

And in December 2013, Iraq ordered 24 FA-50 light attack aircraft from KAI in a $1.1 billion contract.

BY SARAH KIM [sarahkim@joongang.co.kr]