South Korean and Norwegian officials gathered in Seoul on May 2 to continue bilateral discussions on defense industry cooperation.
The ninth meeting of the three-day joint committee aims to explore local partnerships to increase defense exports to the Nordic countries, including South Korea’s export of the Hyundai Rotem K2 Panther main battle tank (MBT) to Norway, Ministry of Defense Procurement Program Administration (DAPA) said.
The meeting was chaired by Kim Saeng, Director of DAPA’s Bureau of International Cooperation, and Morten Tiller, Director of National Armaments of the Norwegian Ministry of Defence (MoD). In addition to Seoul’s bid to supply K2 MBT to Norway, the two sides will also discuss potential joint development of advanced weapons systems and technologies.
South Korean Defense Minister Seo Wook visited Norway in February and held talks with Norwegian Defense Minister Odd Roger Enoksen, a visit that sparked cautious optimism about Seoul’s K2 MBT export ambitions. However, the latter eventually resigned in April. The latest joint committee meeting was seen as an important touch after unexpected problems.
South Korea earlier won a contract to deliver 24 Hanwha Land Systems 155mm K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers (SPH) and six K10 armored ammunition supply vehicles worth about $215 million in December 2017.
The first K9 Thunder arrived in Norway at the end of 2019. Once fully operational, the new SPH will replace the M109A3GNM system currently in service with the Norwegian Army. The Korean system won a competitive tender that included the French CAESAR, the German Panzerhaubitze 2000 (PzH-2000) and the Swiss RUAG M109 Krait upgrade.
Seoul is no doubt hoping to build on the momentum of its K9 Thunder win to help boost its prospects for supplying Norway’s next-generation MBT, which will replace the army’s Leopard 2A4 platform. Its only competitor is Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), whose PzH-2000 system lost out to the Koreans in the SPH program. KMW has entered its latest Leopard 2A7 MBT.
The Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA) announced on January 28 that winter trials of the MBT project have begun at Camp Rena in Østerdalen, with both companies deploying two tanks to evaluate their mobility and firing performance. The contract is expected to be awarded by the end of this year, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2025.
by Jr Ng
