Hanwha Aerospace to combine targeting drones with K9 howitzers to direct artillery strikes

Hanwha Aerospace unveiled a concept that integrates a vertical-takeoff-and-landing fire-guidance drone directly with the K9 self-propelled howitzer's fire-control system during the K9 User Club in Estonia. The drone is intended to detect and track targets, transmit coordinates, observe impacts, and support battle-damage assessment without relying on a separate external reconnaissance chain. Hanwha says the approach could reduce a typical 15-to-20-minute call-for-fire sequence to less than 60 seconds, but that performance is a company objective for a concept and no customer order, operational test result, or fielding schedule was announced.