The Minister of defence of Australia, Peter Dutton and the Minister of defence industry of Australia Melissa Price 13 Dec 2021 has signed a contract with Hanwha Defence Australia (Australian Department of defense battalion Defense of the South Korean Hanwha Hanwha group) to supply the Australian army 30 self-propelled howitzer K9 Thunder caliber 155 mm/52 15 transport and loading vehicles K10 AARV based on them, build them all in Australia for the planned construction of the plant in Calonge (Victoria). The same company will carry out maintenance and repair of the K9 and K10 of the Australian Army. In Australia, these systems received the official designations AS9 and AS10, respectively, and the whole family was named Huntsman. The signing of the contract was announced by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in at a ceremony at the Australian Parliament building in Canberra.
Image of 155mm/52 AS9 Huntsman Self-propelled Howitzers and AS10 Huntsman transport-loading vehicle for the Australian Army (c) Hanwha
The value of the contract has not been officially disclosed, but, according to South Korean media, it is about 1 trillion South Korean won (848 million US dollars). The contract also includes unnamed radar detection of artillery positions. Construction of the Hanwha Defence Australia facility in Geelong is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2022 and is expected to take 24 months, the Norwegian Kongsberg Group will act as an industrial partner. Production of AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzers is scheduled to begin there in the fourth quarter of 2024. In its appearance, the AS9 ACS is believed to be close to the upgraded K9A1 systems.
Recall that in September 2020, the Australian government announced the selection of proposals K9 and K10 from Hanwha Defense Australia in the tender for the Land 8116 Protected Mobile Fires program for the supply of self-propelled artillery systems for the Australian army. The competing offer in the tender was the 155 mm/52 self-propelled howitzer PzH 2000, presented by the German companies KMW and Rheinmetall. This program was the second attempt by the Australian Army to purchase a 155 mm/52 self-propelled howitzer - in 2008, the Land 17 Artillery Replacement project was already launched, in which the same K9 and PzH 2000 competed, but this program was canceled for financial reasons in 2012.
The victory in the Australian tender was another export success for the K9 ACS on the world market - by now these systems have already been purchased by five countries (Turkey, India, Norway, Finland and Estonia), and the K9 chassis is used for the production of the Polish Krab ACS.
Image of 155mm/52 AS9 Huntsman Self-propelled Howitzer and AS10 Huntsman transport-loading vehicle for the Australian Army (c) Hanwha
