At the ‘Cheonmu Export Contract Signing Ceremony’ held in Norway on the 30th of last month (local time), Gro Jare, head of the Defence Materiel Agency (left), and Son Jae-il, CEO of Hanwha Aerospace, sign the contract. Courtesy of Hanwha Aerospace

Hanwha Aerospace announced on the 2nd that on the 30th of last month (local time) it signed a contract with Norway's NDMA to supply 16 Cheonmu launchers, guided missiles, and integrated logistics support, a total ‘Cheonmu Full Package’ worth $922 million (about 1.3 trillion KRW).

Cheonmu is a wheeled multiple launch rocket system independently developed by South Korea to counter North Korea artillery threats and replace aging rocket systems. Since 2024, Norway's NDMA has pursued a program to introduce next-generation multiple launch rockets to replace obsolete long-range artillery assets. Hanwha Aerospace adapted Cheonmu to operate even in extreme sub-zero, snowfield environments to suit local conditions and entered the bidding for this project.

According to Hanwha Aerospace, the outcome of this competition was uncertain. The United States company Lockheed Martin joined with its ‘HIMAS’ (HIMAS), and Europe's KNDS competed with mainstay systems such as ‘Euro PULS’. In fact, the Norwegian government was initially said to be considering purchasing HIMAS, which is known to have the highest combat power among multiple rocket systems.

Hanwha Aerospace says that ‘Public-Private One-Team Sales’ was decisive in reversing this trend. Kang Hoon-sik, Chief of Staff to the President, met with the Norwegian government in October last year as a special envoy for strategic economic cooperation, and Defense Minister Ahn Kyu-baek continued high-level communications, explaining the performance of Cheonmu and plans for defense cooperation between Korea and Norway. Hanwha Aerospace said, “Through the government-and-corporate ‘One-Team Sales’ approach, we secured the trust of the Norwegian government by encompassing long-term logistics support and industrial cooperation that would be difficult for a company to propose on its own.”

Hanwha Aerospace intends to use this Norway Cheonmu contract as a springboard to cultivate Cheonmu into a globally popular weapons system. It also plans to establish a Cheonmu operating ecosystem so that importing countries can share parts supply and operational know-how.

Hanwha Aerospace CEO Son Jae-il said, “This contract was concluded by combining the trust built through support for operating the K9 self-propelled howitzer exported to Norway with proactive defense-industry diplomacy by the government,” adding, “Based on a ‘one-team’ framework with the government, we will contribute to the security of the Republic of Korea and continue to expand global defense-industry cooperation.”