Image source: topwar.ru
On July 9, 2024, Romania signed a contract worth almost $1 billion with the South Korean Hanwha concern for the supply of 54 K9 self-propelled howitzers and 36 K10 supply vehicles, as well as support equipment and 18,000 155 mm shells.
The contract provided for the first delivery in early 2027, but Hanwha completed the shipment ahead of schedule: the machines have already been handed over to the customer and arrived in the country. In the Romanian army, they received the designation Tunetul ("Thunder").
Bucharest became the tenth buyer of the K9 ACS and the sixth NATO member to choose it, after Turkey, Poland, Norway, Finland and Estonia. The new howitzers will replace the Soviet-era artillery still in service with Romania. On this occasion, the command states:
K9 in Romania:
Image source: topwar.ru
The country is the leader in Europe in terms of the number of towed guns, the basis of the fleet of which are Soviet calibers: 152-mm M1981 and M1985 (more than 300 units, local variants of the D-20), 122-mm M-30 model of 1938 (about 96), 100-mm anti-tank guns M1977 (more than 200, created under heavily influenced by MT-12 "Rapier"). Self-propelled artillery is represented by the 122-mm self–propelled gun 2S1 "Gvozdika" and the Model 89 (a local hybrid: an artillery piece from the Soviet 2S1, the MLI-84 chassis is a copy of the BMP-1).
The first batch of 18 K9 and 12 TZM K10 howitzers is produced in South Korea, while the remaining machines are planned to be produced in Romania. For this purpose, Hanwha is building a factory in Petresti, which is also intended to become a service center for European K9 operators. The company's investments amount to €1.3 billion. The entire order must be completed within 5 years.
