Norwegian defence company Nammo has secured an agreement with Hyundai Rotem to develop new 120mm ammunition for Hyundai Rotem’s K2 main battle tank (MBT).
“This is a major milestone for Nammo. The agreement with Hyundai Rotem Company (HRC) enables us to integrate and further develop our modern ammunition portfolio for the K2 main battle tank. This means more powerful ammunition for NATO countries using the K2, including Norway”, says Audun Dotseth, Vice President Large Calibre Systems at Nammo.
Nammo stated that the agreement has an initial value of $5 million for research and development (R&D) with more than $100 million if Nammo ends up producing and delivering the new 120mm ammunition to K2 users.
The company said that it will begin work on integrating its current 120mm ammunition to ensure a high safety standard as well as perfect compatibility with the K2 MBT.
In the mid to long term, Nammo together with HRC also expects to finalise the development of a programmable fuse which will enable the K2 MBT to use rounds with different scenario-dependent modes, with airburst as one such option.
Poland recently signed a contract to procure close to two hundred K2 MBTs, in a deal where HRC will deliver a total of 1000 K2 MBTs with successive contracts.
Norway is currently in the final stage of choosing a new MBT for its Army – the K2 is one of two candidates.
“The agreement between the two companies will further prepare the K2 MBT for the European market,” says Euiseong Lee, Vice President of HRC. “The K2 today is fully interoperable with NATO ammunition standards and the cooperation with Nammo will further strengthen the security of supply both for Norway and other K2 users in Europe,” he says.
Nammo carried out the first successful test shots with the new airburst ammunition fired at Rena firing range in Norway last winter.
