Egypt is negotiating with Korea for an advanced missile system that competes with the American “Himars”
Cairo is moving towards enhancing the ability of Egyptian deterrence by developing its military partnerships with South Korea, which has established its position as a prominent international player in the field of advanced armament systems. Current negotiations are focused on a huge deal to acquire the Chonmamo multiple missile translation system, which is not limited to purchase, but may also extend to local production and technology transport.
Arab Defense website – August 17, 2025: The largest special space and defense company in South Korea, “Hanoa Airbis”, is holding talks with the Egyptian government to export the “K239 Chunmoo” system, in a deal that may give Cairo greater maintenance and self -development during crises. This trend comes after a long time during which Egypt relied mainly on Russian weapons, as it recently began to diversify its armament sources driven by cost factors and the speed of delivery. Recent data indicates that Russia has provided about 41% of Egypt’s military imports between 2017 and 2021, while Cairo has strengthened its dealings with the United States, Germany and France, with new channels opening with South Korea.
The Chonmo system is characterized by a normative design and an open structure, which allows it to integrate with various ammunition, including locally manufactured in Egypt, and includes multi -caliber missiles from 130 mm to 600 mm, with a range between 36 and 290 km. This is not the first cooperation between Egypt and South Korea, as Cairo and torrents signed in 2022 contracts worth 1.7 billion dollars to provide Egypt with the “K-9” cannons and the “K-10” re-supplies vehicles, and extensive tests were conducted for the defender in Egypt through local engines, during which they traveled more than 10 thousand kilometers through a variety of terrain with full success.
The value of this deal amounted to about 2 trillion Korean (equivalent to $ 1.7 billion), and was the largest in the history of “K-9” defender exports, and also represented the first export of Korean self-artillery to an African country.
Analysts expect the negotiations to accelerate before the “IDEX” international defense exhibition next December, where “Hanoa Airbis” is expected to participate in a widespread interest in the defensive circles in this deal.
Experts emphasized that Egypt is seeking to enhance its defense capabilities by diversifying the sources of arming them, in a way that combines eastern and western weapons. In general, missile translation provides major support for the forces through the ability to fire heavy and rapid fire against enemy formations, whether they are rolled, tanks or driving centers, with high and speed bombing capabilities.
Experts pointed out that the Korean translations “Chunmo” are loadable on transport vehicles up to 80 km per hour, allowing the rockets to be fired and then quickly to avoid targeting. It is also characterized by a precise injury of two or three meters, with an advanced fire management room that includes a driver, driver and grab, and is able to use several types of ammunition in the same vehicle, from 130 mm to 600 mm, with the possibility of linking to internal and external radars.
Experts pointed out that the Korean regime is competing with the American bombers “Himars”, with a continuous development that includes the sixth generation of translations, improved capabilities to manage fire and combat jamming, in addition to a defensive cannon on the cabin to protect the vehicle from drones, and the ability to complete them in just 15 minutes, which is not provided by any other missile launchers in the world.
The K239 Chunmamo system, known as Korean as 천무, is a multi -procedure missile artillery system, developed in 2013 to replace the old K136 Corruung system in the South Korean army. This system is characterized by its ability to launch multiple types of guided and non -guided missiles, which gives it great flexibility in carrying out combat tasks.
Chunmo is a qualitative shift in the capabilities of the South Korean artillery, as it can launch the 131 mm -guided K33 missiles and a range of 36 km, although it does not support the 130 mm missiles used in the previous regime. The launcher contains two units of launch, each of which can load one of three main types of missiles: 20 K33 missiles, or 6 KM26A2 230 mm missiles derived from the American M26 missile used in M270 launchers with a range of 45 km, or 6 CGR080 mm missiles of up to 80 km.
CGR080 guided missiles are one of the most prominent elements of superiority in the system, as it depends on a built -in direction using the Self -deficiency navigation system with GPS support, and the length of the single missile is about 3.96 meters. These missiles are specially designed to meet the needs of the South Korean army, and are equipped with high -explosive warheads to destroy the fortifications, or cluster heads containing hundreds of small bombs to target individuals within large areas.
Two different types of missiles can be loaded at the same time, and the system can launch 6 239 mm missiles within 30 seconds, and 12 rockets in one minute, while re -downloading two containers does not exceed seven minutes. The system relies on the eight -wheel drive K239L truck (8 x 8) manufactured by Dosan DST (which has become part of Hanoa Defense), and the armored vehicle has protection against light weapons and artillery fragments, as well as protection against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
The vehicle has the ability to climb sharp slopes of up to 60%, and is equipped with advanced systems such as slipping braking, hole -resistant tires, and a central tire blowing system. Each K239T is accompanied by the launch of the K239T ammunition that uses the same structure and holds four containers for re -download. One battery in the South Korean army consists of 18 Chunmamo vehicles, and is run by a K200A1 driving vehicle.
In October 2014, South Korea announced the purchase of 58 Chonnmamo K239, and the army began publishing it in its field formations as of August 2015.
On the international level, Hanoa Defense revealed during the ADEX 2017 exhibition in Seoul the signing of a secret contract worth 700 billion options to export the system to a country in the Middle East, which later turned out to be the United Arab Emirates, including the supply of 12 k239 and 12 k239T ammunition support vehicles, along with GPS missiles and various ammunition, and was officially delivered in February 2021.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the World Defense Exhibition in Riyadh witnessed 2022, a defensive contract with Hanoa, with a trillion Korean value (about 800 million dollars), and the sources later confirmed in March 2023 that a number of Chunmo launchers entered service to the Royal Land Forces, with the possibility that the agreement was made according to an unannounced agreement as in the case of the UAE.
In Poland, the Polish Defense Minister announced in August 2022 to negotiations to buy the regime, and in October of the same year the negotiations were completed to supply about 300 Chunmamo, after Poland faced difficulty in meeting its original request to buy 500 American HIMARS, within the required time frame. On October 19, 2022, a contract to supply 288 K239 Chunmamo was signed on Jelcz 8 x 8, equipped with the Polish battle management system, Topaz, with 23 thousand missiles with a range of 80 and 290 km, and the delivery of the first integrated system called “Homar-K” on August 20, 2023 to the eighteenth mechanical division of the ground forces Polish.
The article, Egypt, appeared negotiating with Korea on a advanced missile system that competes with the American “Himars” first on the Arab defense site.
