Egypt today has, without the slightest doubt, the most powerful armed force in Africa and the Middle East, with an air force of 360 combat aircraft, a fleet of 8 submarines, 20 frigates and corvettes and 2 helicopter carriers, and a land force fielding more than 2000 heavy tanks and 3500 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. Inspired by both Soviet and American doctrines, the latter also has powerful and modern artillery, with more than 600 self-propelled multiple rocket launchers, and a thousand armored self-propelled artillery systems, more than half of which are M109s. Americans. For several years, the country has also been invested in a vast effort to modernize its armies, with the acquisition of new combat aircraft and ships from France, Germany and Italy, as well as 500 heavy T-tanks. 90M to Russia.
Since 2009, Cairo has been in negotiations with Seoul to acquire the 155mm K-9 armored self-propelled artillery system. The negotiations were stopped for a time by the events of the Arab Spring of 2011. But according to DAPA, the South Korean arms agency, Cairo and Seoul signed on February 1 an agreement for the local manufacture of 200 K-9 self-propelled guns as well as an unspecified number of armored support vehicles including the K-10 armored ammunition carrier, all for an amount of $1,7 billion, constituting the greatest export success to date for Hanwha Defense, the designer of the K-9.
The K-9 Thunder is a 46-ton tracked armored vehicle with a length of 12 meters (with cannon) and a height of 2,73m. It is armed with a 98mm 155 caliber BN52 cannon powered by a 48-round semi-automatic loading system to support a rate of fire of 6 to 8 rounds per minute, and range up to 40 km. The armored vehicle is powered by a 881 hp German-Korean STX-MTU MT500Ka-1000 engine block, an Allison transmission and hydropneumatic suspension giving it a maximum speed of 67 km/h and excellent all-terrain mobility. On the other hand, and as is often the case for this type of vehicle, its armor is limited, with a thickness of 19mm offering protection only against shrapnel and small caliber weapons.
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[…] efforts to promote their defense equipment throughout the world. After convincing Egypt to acquire 200 K-9 self-propelled guns, and signing a partnership with Turkey to complete the construction of the battle tank […]