This is unofficial information reported by the Defense Romania website. As Defence Industry Europe reported, in the Romanian tender for new artillery systems, defence industry companies submitted three offers. Apart from the K9 Thunder offered by Hanwha Aerospace, the Romanian Ministry of National Defence received offers from Germany (Panzerhaubitze 2000) and Turkey (T-155 Firtina II).
The Polish defence industry showed interest in this procurement program, but the offer submitted by the Polish defence group PGZ (Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa) was rejected. There is no official information about the version of the K9 howitzer selected by Romania. It could be the K9A1 or the upgraded version K9A2.
If this report is confirmed by the Romanian Ministry of National Defence, it will mean that the Romanian army will become another European user of the K9 howitzer. This artillery system is currently operated by Poland, Finland, Norway, and Estonia.
Romania intends to sign a contract for 54 self-propelled howitzers, 18,000 artillery rounds, 27 spare barrels, and additional vehicles (ammunition vehicles, technical support vehicles, artillery reconveyance vehicles). Bucharest plans to allocate approximately EUR 850 million for the entire program.
