S Korea Muscling Into SE Asia's Open Arms Market

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An interesting quirk about the Vietnam-South Korea deal is its government-to-government nature, a different agreement model compared to South Korea's past export deals, most of which have been direct supply agreements between the arms exporter and the importing state itself.

This exemplifies the South Korean government's level of participation and interest in expanding bilateral cooperation with Vietnam, with Vietnamese President To Lam's August 2025 state visit to South Korea culminating in a bilateral agreement to expand inter-state trade to US$150 billion by 2030.

The 20-piece, $250 million sale shines light on the PAV's intentions. Firstly, 20 pieces would be grossly insufficient in satisfying Vietnam's defense requirements from a tactical standpoint, considering the extended length of its land borders with neighboring China, Cambodia and Laos, as well as its coastlines overlooking the hotly contested South China Sea.

These operational realities mean that the deal can and should be better understood as a sampler purchase, considering that the PAV had purportedly explored a deal for 108 French-produced CAESAR artillery assets in 2015.

There are two ways to view this: the first being both parties' intentions to maximize unit purchase numbers for asset testing and personnel training purposes, and the second being the potential for a second follow-through contract, assuming both parties are satisfied with the first deal.

Artillery remains king

The ongoing Russia–Ukraine war serves as stark evidence of the irreplaceable role artillery plays in modern warfare. Despite the prominence of drones and precision-guided munitions , massed artillery fire has remained the decisive factor in determining battlefield control.

Russia and Ukraine have both demonstrated that sustained artillery barrages can degrade enemy positions, dictate maneuver space and impose both physical and psychological pressure on adversaries. Artillery, in other words, continues to define the tempo of land combat.

For countries such as South Korea facing potential flashpoints with unpredictable neighbors like North Korea, artillery forms a crucial backbone of national defense.

Vietnam, with its long borders with China, Laos, and Cambodia, as well as its extensive coastline exposed to South China Sea contingencies, shares similar requirements. The K9 howitzer directly addresses these operational needs, with its cost-effective blend of firepower, mobility and protection being combat-proven in diverse environments.

With a firing range of over 40 kilometers, rapid shoot-and-scoot capability, and an automated fire control system, the K9 offers clear battlefield performance advantages over Vietnam's legacy Soviet and US-era systems.

Compared to wheeled alternatives such as the French CAESARs and Swedish Archers, the K9's tracked platform provides superior mobility across challenging terrain, while its armored chassis enhances troop and asset survivability against counter-battery fire and drone attacks.

Equally important, the adoption of the K9 is a first step towards standardizing Vietnam's usage of the 155mm caliber, the most widely used artillery round in the world.

Considering that the PAV's old artillery systems utilized a mix of 105mm, 122mm, 152mm and 155mm-calibre ammunition, this shift would both simplify its logistical requirements and ensure long-term ammunition availability from a host of suppliers.

In an era where artillery ammunition shortages have become a defining challenge in Ukraine, such standardization would give the PAV a more sustainable and resilient inflow of ammunition.

The K9, therefore, is not just an artillery platform but also a catalyst for modernizing Vietnam's broader land warfare doctrine and ensuring its military supply chain resilience.

Start of something new

Beyond the tactical significance, the Vietnam K9 deal signals a new stage in South Korea's arms export trajectory. Until now, Korean defense sales in Southeast Asia had been relatively modest, with markets dominated by Russian suppliers or Western alternatives.

The K9 sale breaks new ground as the first major Korean artillery penetration into the region, showing that“K-Defense” is gaining region-specific credibility as both technologically reliable and politically viable.

This process could also be accelerated by high levels of mutual political trust between Korea and Southeast Asian nations, with the success of Korea's soft power reach in the region potentially serving to smooth the process of establishing defense and military agreements of a more sensitive nature.

This development also comes at a time when ASEAN states are increasingly reconsidering their force modernization strategies. The legacy dependence on Soviet equipment has become a strategic liability, both in terms of spare part availability and political alignment, especially after Russia's deepening entanglement in Ukraine and ensuing isolation from much of the US-aligned international community.

Countries such as Thailand , Indonesia and the Philippines are now exploring alternative suppliers. South Korea's proven track record of delivering high-quality systems on time, at competitive cost and often with generous add-on training and industrial packages positions it as an attractive middle ground between expensive Western platforms and politically sensitive Chinese equipment.

The Vietnam case could also generate spillover demand, with potential for the K9 deal with Vietnam to serve as a proof of concept for the viability of Korean-made military technologies in Southeast Asia's unique tropical climate, and its successful integration in the PAV's warfighting setup, encouraging neighboring states to pursue similar acquisitions.