"Under the agreement, Generation 5 Holding will support local production and market access for the K9," Hanwha said in a statement Friday on the sidelines of Eurosatory defense expo in Paris.
Hanwha and Generation 5 Holding sign a production and market-access pact
South Korean defense firm Hanwha announced a collaboration with Emirati firm Generation 5 Holding to jointly manufacture K9 155 mm self propelled Howitzers in the United Arab Emirates for the Middle East market. The statement, issued at the Eurosatory defense expo in Paris, framed the agreement as a practical step to bring manufacturing and lifecycle support closer to regional customers.
Generation 5 Holding Managing Director Khalifa Murad Alblooshi said, "By combining our strengths in manufacturing and our integrated industrial capabilities, we are well positioned to develop, manufacture, and deliver high-performance Howitzer systems to our customers, in line with our strategy to transfer and localize advanced defense manufacturing technologies." Hanwha described the deal as part of its broader Middle East strategy to pursue "local production, maintenance and technology partnerships as a route to regional customers."
K-9 Thunder: the system at the center of the tie-up
The platform identified for local manufacture is the K-9 Thunder, described in the announcement as a 155 mm self propelled Howitzer. The source material notes that Hanwha previously secured a large K-9-related contract in Egypt: a 2022 deal worth $1.7 billion. In that case Hanwha offered a coproduction arrangement that produced subsystems in Egypt’s Factory 200.
The company cited rising global demand for 155 mm artillery—"especially after the Ukraine conflict showed the necessity of such a capability in modern combat"—as part of the market rationale for expanding production capacity and local support in the Middle East.
Generation 5 Holding, Calidus, and existing Emirati capabilities
According to the announcement, Generation 5 Holding is the parent company of Calidus, an Emirati developer and manufacturer of aircraft and armored vehicles. The statement notes that Calidus "develops its own missile systems, including ALHEDA, a 140 mm missile which is a ground-to-ground missile system that can be mounted on armored vehicles, including light infantry fighting vehicles," and that ALHEDA "was contracted by the UAE armed forces in February 2025."
That connection positions the joint effort not only as a manufacturing partnership but also as one that leans on an existing industrial base and product lineup inside the UAE.
How regional customers, Emirati industry, and Hanwha are responding
- Regional customers: The agreement promises K9 manufacture and lifecycle support "closer to where the systems operate," which the announcement presents as a way to offer "a capable artillery system with support close to where it operates."
- Emirati industry (Generation 5 / Calidus): Generation 5 is positioned to supply local manufacturing capacity and market access; its managing director framed the partnership as a route to transfer and localize advanced defense manufacturing technologies.
- Hanwha Aerospace: Il Sung, Hanwha Aerospace’s Middle East and North Africa head, called the Middle East a "priority market for Hanwha Aerospace," and the company described the agreement as part of a strategy to strengthen its position in the region through local production, maintenance, and technology partnerships.
Industrial strategy and lifecycle support in-region
Hanwha's public description makes clear that in-country manufacture and lifecycle support are explicit goals: the agreement is presented as a way "to build local industrial capability and to provide support closer to where the systems operate." The language used ties production and after-sales sustainment together as complementary elements of the company's regional approach.
That dual emphasis—on producing hardware locally and on providing lifecycle maintenance—reappears in both parties' statements and echoes the coproduction model Hanwha deployed in Egypt, where subsystems were produced in Factory 200 under a 2022 contract.
The partnership therefore links three discrete assertions from the announcement: Hanwha's intent to deepen its footprint in a "priority market," Generation 5's capacity to facilitate local production and access, and an existing market environment in which demand for 155 mm artillery has grown. The immediate, named next step in the public record is joint manufacturing in the UAE; what follows from there—specific production timelines, contract awards, or customer sales in the region—was not detailed in the statement released at Eurosatory.
