After Polish Success with K9 Howitzer, Hanwha Defense to Bid for UK's Mobile Fires Program

South Korea’s Hanwha Defense is planning to bid for UK’s Mobile Fires Program, days after it signed a contract valued at $2.4 billion to supply K9 Thunder Self-Propelled Howitzers (SPHs) to Poland.

Under the execution contract inked on August 26, Hanwha will be responsible to provide a package of K9 SPHs and 155mm artillery ammunition, along with training and logistics support, between 2022 and 2026, with a follow-up execution contract expected to be sealed as early as by the end of this year.

Hanwha has already signed contracts with four NATO member countries - Turkey, Poland, Norway and Estonia -to supply the K9 artillery systems.

United Kingdom’s Mobile Fires Platform (MFP) programme aims to acquire 116 self-propelled howitzers. UK government has earmarked $934Million over the next decade for the project. The contenders for this programme include the K9A2 presented by Hanwha Defense and the Boxer Remote Controlled Howitzer (RCH) 155 presented by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW).

The UK government has earmarked 800 million pounds ($1.05 million) for the decade-long MFP program to replace the 90s-era AS-90 self-propelled, tracked howitzer. The program reportedly calls for 18 guns with initial operating capability by early 2029 and 116 with full operating capability by 2032.

The AS, manufactured by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Ltd. (later owned by BAE Systems Submarine Solutions), is due to retire by 2030.