The company announced that Norway-based ammunition specialist Nammo has entered into an agreement with South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem to develop new 120mm ammunition for the latter’s K2 Panther main battle tank (MBT).
According to Nammo, the contract has an initial value of $5 million for research and development, with the potential to exceed $100 million if the company is selected as the supplier of 120mm ammunition to K2 MBT users in the region.
Nammo said it will begin integrating its current 120mm ammunition range into the K2 MBT, with the aim of working with Hyundai Rotem to develop a programmable fuze that would enable the tank to use a more diverse range of ammunition, including airbursts.
The company added that the new air-explosive munition had been successfully tested for the first time at the Rena range in Østerdalen during winter tests and trials in Norway. The permanent deployment of K2 MBT to Nammo’s Raufoss test center to support field trials will also facilitate testing.
“The agreement between the two companies will further prepare the K2 MBT to enter the European market,” said Lee Eui-seong, vice president of Hyundai Rotem.
“Today’s K2 is fully interoperable with NATO ammunition standards, and the collaboration with Nammo will further enhance security of supply for other K2 users in Norway and Europe,” added Li.
Poland signed a contract with Hyundai Rotem in August for the supply of around 180 K2 MBTs, and a subsequent technology transfer will enable a follow-on contract to produce another 820 K2PL MBTs locally.
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 bids that included French CAESAR, German Panzerhaubitze 2000 (PzH-2000) and Swiss RUAG M109 Krait upgrades.
Seoul will no doubt want to build on the momentum of the K9 Thunder’s victory to help boost its prospects of winning Norway’s MBT program, 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 programme have begun at Camp Rena, 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
