Well, let me address this article. The statements made here are dependant on which M109 you are talking about.
The newer M109A7 which the US military now uses compares very favorably to the new Korean K9. Many of the specs this article uses, compare the new K9 to older M109 variants...and the author knows it.
The M109A7 weighs 39 tons, not the 26 spoken of here.
It can maintain a speed of 38 mph, and has a very modern fire control system second to none.
The fact is, the US military and industry has a history of producing excellent quality mobile artillery, which can be maintained in the field and are long lasting and battle proven.
The Koreans themselves took the M109 A2 and upgraded them to the A4/A5 standard and called it the K55/K55A1 and operate over 1,000 of them. The K9 is slated to replace many of those and the K9 is a very good self propelled howitzer.
As to range, this article compares apples to oranges. It compares the normal, HE explosive rounds of the US A4/A5 weapons, to the Rocket Assisted projectiles of the K9.
But when you do an Apples to Apples comparison, firing normal, non-assisted projectiles (which the vast majority of shots will be), the M1909A7 has a 28 km range, while the K9 has a range of 30 km.
The RAP (Rocket Assisted Projectiles) munitions do add more range, and the longer barrel of the K9 does assist. US RAP projectiles will get out to 35 km, while the K9 does get to 56 km.
As to who uses what...yes, the K9 is winning some orders. but the M109A7 is out there in far larger numbers with a lot more countries. That’s because the cost of an upgrade to M109 is cheaper than a new K9. Later model M109s are currently operated by
US: 1,000
Austria: 80
Taiwan: 225
Morocco: 70
Brazil: 75
Chile: 48
Egypt: 201
Iraq: 24
Israel: 600
Pakistan: 115
Portugal: 18
Thailand: 20
Greece: 12
Spain: 96
Saudi Arabia: 400
K55/K44A1: 1,040 (S. Korean M109)
That’s a total of over 4,000 M109s currently in use.
The K9 is currently being used (or has been sold to) the following countries to be built to the indicated numbers:
S. Korea: Will build over 1,100
Turkey: Will get 350
Poland: Will Get 120
India: Will get 100
That’s 1,1670 weapons,
As I say, the K9 is a good weapon, and I am glad S. Korea and some of our allies have it. But the M109A7 is the most prolific and most battle tested weapon out there.
So, all in all, this article is simple a Korean K9 marketing article, but the whole truth is in the details.
Hey Jeff, I’m an old time submariner but looked up those and wow they are bad. Do they have the ability to be wire guided or GPS guided? It would be so wild to be able to have a mobile machine on the ground and be able to hit precision guided targets on point.
I read the article above and thought wow you could hit something 30 miles away perfectly. That’s unbelievable.
I don’t think I’d want to be bad guy against those type weapons.
Hey, Jeff. I went to OCS at Ft. SIll in the summer o 1967. The M109 was relatively new, with its short barrel and cab-mounted rammer (What a bitch to hanle!).
I spent over 20 years in the Field Artillery and continue to be amazed at the longevity and growth of the M109! It is a great platform!