Army of South Korea plans to purchase 800 EVO-105 105mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer 2810131.

Samsung Techwin could start the development of the 105mm howitzer EVO-105 in 2014, with a first delivery to the South Korean army in 2017.

After being assigned as a project under advanced concept technology demonstration in 2009, Samsung Techwin started making the new wheeled howitzer from 2010 in an effort to enhance combat capabilities with other widely used artilleries.

“Since the 105-millimetre self-propelled artillery is being loaded on a five-ton truck, the cost of the weapon is relatively cheap and it shows more outstanding performance than existing towed artillery,” said an executive at Samsung Techwin. “Shells have to be loaded manually. But firing control is operated automatically and radiation of heat can be selected either in automatic, manual and half automatic. The number of operating personnel can be reduced by three compared to existing towed artilleries.”

The EVO-105 uses a M101A1 towed howitzer mounted on a on a South Korean five-ton truck chassis KM500. This new artillery system is equipped with automatic gun laying and fire control system.

The sides of the EVO-105 are protected with armour plates, and the crew compartment provides a protection against firing of small arms and artillery shell splinters. The EVO-105 is able to be quickly in firing position and the first round can be fired in less than 1 minute.

A 12.7mm machine gun can be mounted on the top crew cabin as secondary weapon..