At Eurosatory on 17 June Hanwha Aerospace and Thales signed an agreement to make several of the former’s Chunmoo guided munitions compatible with the latter’s X-Fire launcher, supporting the evolving Thales deep strike capability.
The agreement envisions technical cooperation to ensure three Chunmoo weapons’ compatibility with the Thales launch platform: the CGR080 guided rocket with a range of approx. 80km; the CT-MR missile in the 160-km range class; and the CTM290 tactical ballistic missile with a 290km range.
Developed by Thales and Soframe, the X-Fire launcher is designed to fire a wide variety of long-range munitions and has already demonstrated initial firings in May this year. Both companies expressed firm intentions of seeking further collaboration opportunity in European markets. “This MoU strengthens our partnership and enhances long-range precision strike capabilities to reinforce collaboration on the international market. Together, we will deliver flexible and interoperable solutions to meet the current operational needs in deep strike,” commented Julien Assoun, VP Vehicles and Tactical Systems at Thales.
DA Comment
Hanwha’s expansion of its presence across Europe has been quite aggressively successful over the last several years. Collaboration, partnerships and user groups have characterised expansion to date, with more of the same likely to come.
Concentration on exploiting expertise in guided munitions seems to be an obvious move, given the trend towards recapitalising long-range joint fires capabilities across the continent. This may also have beneficial effects on the company’s prospects for further K9 Thunder sales as partnerships deepen and trust strengthens.
Headline image shows the Thales/Soframe X-Fire launcher. (Thales)
