Pasi Pasivirta, director of European business development at Hanwha Defense
Q What are the key marketing campaigns?
A Hanwha Defense has been marketing K9 SPHs and K10 ammunition resupply vehicles for some time in Europe. So far, we have been successful with countries like Estonia, Finland and Norway choosing K9 as their solution for self-propelled artillery.
We expect more European nations to modernize their artillery inventory by the end of this decade. Hanwha Defense stands ready to support these nations. Ground-based air defense (GBAD) and long-range rocket artillery are something that many European nations are focusing on right now.
Hanwha Defense has developed a hybrid GBAD platform that is in service with the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army. An updated version of this platform could be of interest for these nations.
Q
What are the key strategies?
A For many European customers, security of supply is a key concern. Hanwha Defense has developed many different ways to meet these requirements. For example, Hanwha Defense is open to and has successfully completed transfer of technology in many cases.
With transfer of technology the customer can have local sovereign manufacturing capability and local supply chain for systems in question. Another focal point is in taking full advantage of Hanwha Defense’s vast experience and knowledge in systems integration. Hanwha has worldwide experience with integrating different weapons systems and platforms. Customers tell what they want, and Hanwha makes it happen.
Q What is Hanwha Defense’s competitiveness against the European Union and the U.S. players?
A Hanwha’s products are fielded in large numbers. Hanwha’s domestic customer has sizeable land force, and the ROK Army often acquires hundreds of systems. This means that there is lots of information available from systems that are used on daily basis. This information can be made available for the new customers. This reduces significantly risk of fielding a new system.
Taking K9 SPH for an example, there are more than 1,700 K9 SPHs in service around the world. That number exceeds by far any competing artillery guns.
Q What is Hanwha Defense’s response to the growing demand in the wake of the Ukraine crisis?
A Hanwha Defense understands the needs and concerns of some European nations. Hanwha Defense has quite significant manufacturing capability for many types of defense solutions. This capability can be even expanded and made available for customers with urgent needs.
We have experience and readiness to support establishing local manufacturing capabilities in Europe. We are discussing with some nations these possibilities. We stand ready to support Europe and our European customers.