Hanwha Defense USA won a major Army contract to build mobile howitzer prototypes for the Army’s Mobile Tactical Cannon program, the company announced Tuesday, putting the firm at the center of the U.S. military’s artillery modernization push.
The contract, potentially worth up to $262 million, calls for Hanwha Defense USA to provide six prototypes of its K9 mobile howitzers for the Army program, with the option for the service to order another 12 later.
The company has already fielded more than 2,500 of its K9 howitzers globally, according to a Hanwha statement, putting the firm in a strong position to help accelerate the Army’s push to field more mobile, long-range artillery systems. Such 155 mm artillery systems have played a pivotal role in current conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war.
For Hanwha Defense USA — a subsidiary of South Korea’s Hanwha Group — the award is the latest example of its rapidly expanding role in the American defense industrial base.
In December 2024, the company bought the Philadelphia Shipyard, where it performs maintenance, repair, and overhaul work on U.S. Navy vessels and constructs specialized ships. Earlier this month, the company announced a $1.2 billion offer to buy Austal USA, an Alabama-based defense contractor that builds steel and aluminum surface vessels for the Navy and the Coast Guard.
The howitzer deal is the company’s first major contract with the Army.
“We’re honored that the U.S. Army has selected Hanwha’s K9 Mobile Howitzer to fulfill its Mobile Tactical Cannon requirement. The K9MH is the total artillery solution and will be the centerpiece of Army Fires’ transformation into a more modern, more lethal force,” Mike Smith, Hanwha Defense USA COO and president of land systems, said in a press release.
The company said it will open a site in Opelika, Alabama, to serve as the U.S. integration and test facility for K9 mobile howitzers.
The Army’s Mobile Tactical Cannon program, the service said, aims to eventually replace M777 towed artillery systems. The self-propelled cannons, the Army said in a statement, will make the artillery systems more lethal, mobile, reliable and survivable on modern battlefields.
But there are questions about the U.S. defense industrial base’s ability to produce enough 155 mm ammunition for the systems. A Pentagon inspector general report released last month said the Army is far behind its target of producing at least 100,000 rounds of 155 mm ammunition by October 2025.
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