Speaking on the sidelines of ADEX 2023 in Seoul, the Minister for South Korea’s Defence Acquisition Progam Administration (DAPA) Eom Dong-hwan, called for increased defence ties with Australia.
Expressing his gratitude to the 17,000 Australian service men and women who fought in the Korean War between 1950 and 1953, Minister Eom said that he did not want a simple ‘buyer-seller’ relationship between the two counties.
“That wouldn’t last long,” he said. “I think the defence industrial cooperation has the main purpose of shared interest; therefore, I think we’re now in a stage where we can take the initial step between our two countries to have a bright future.
“There’s almost no time difference (two hours) between Korea and Australia and as the importance of the Indo-Pacific region grows, I think military cooperation and the solidarity between Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United States is more important than ever before. So, I think cooperation with Australia is our number one priority and now we’re in a time where we can make a contribution to Australia – not only me, but there will be a whole-of-government approach to providing support.
South Korean industrial giant Hanwha is building an armoured vehicle production facility at Avalon, near Geelong, to supply the Australian Army with AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzers (SPH) and AS10 armoured ammunition resupply vehicles (AARV) and has been selected as the preferred bidder for 129 AS21 Redback infantry fighting vehicles (IFV).
Minister EOM said that in his meeting with Defence Minister Richard Marles at ADEX, he flagged the possibility of Hanwha Defense Australia’s facility at Avalon becoming a production hub for Redback export orders. He also said that the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) is reviewing its requirements and may well also place an order for either the AS21, or a variant of it.
He also said that South Korea is working with Deakin University in Geelong on artificial intelligence and autonomy for the AS9/AS10 and similar K9/K10 vehicles and has previously met with the Mayor of Geelong and the Chancellor of the university to discuss future plans.
“I told them that Deakin will play a major role in expanding the research and development into those technologies,” Minister Eom said.
Already, DAPA is working on an upgrade for the ROKA’s K9A1 vehicles to bring them up to K9A2 standard which, among other things, will increase the rate of fire from six rounds per minute to eight and reduce the crew from five to three.
For the future, Minister Eom said that he would like to see one K9 crewed by three crew leading five autonomously-operated guns, manned by only a driver.
“That is our final goal that we’re working towards and I think a demonstration will be possible by 2027,” he said.
“This work is now being led by Hanwha in Korea but I believe that as we progress, Australia should also take part and they should play a major role.”
Disclaimer: The writer stayed in Seoul as a guest of the Korean Government.