South Korea to sell infantry fighting vehicles to Australia: How did the country become world's biggest arms dealer?

South Korea has bagged a major military deal with Australia, surpassing Germany. Under the contract, South Korea will build 129 infantry-fighting vehicles (IFV) worth up to $4.74 billion.

The deal has been described as “one of the largest projects in the history of the Australian army” by Kiwi Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy.

“The state-of-the-art vehicles will come with the latest generation armor, cannon, and missiles, providing the protection, mobility, and firepower needed by soldiers in close combat,” Conroy told reporters.

According to Eurasian Times, South Korea has agreed to supply state-of-the-art IFVs that will effectively replace the Australian Army’s Vietnam-era  M113 armored personnel carriers.

South Korea’s race to become world’s biggest arms dealers

In May, South Korea’s arms sales jumped to more than $17 billion in 2022 from $7.25 billion the year before, according to its defence ministry, as Western countries scrambled to arm Ukraine and tensions rose in other hot spots such as North Korea and the South China Sea.

Explaining how South Korea stole the spotlight in becoming one of the world’s biggest arms exporters, Oh Kyeahwan, a director at Hanwha Aerospace told Reuters, “The Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and others were thinking of buying defence products only in Europe, but now it is more well known that you can buy at a low price and have it delivered quickly from Korean companies.”

Apart from this, South Korea has beaten most countries in terms of speedy deliveries. In a deal inked with Poland, the country offered to provide weapons faster than almost anyone was a key consideration.

The first shipment of 10 K2s and 24 K9s arrived in Poland in December, just months after the deals were signed, and at least five more tanks and 12 additional howitzers have been delivered since.

S Korea becomes major arms dealer in Russia Ukraine war

With the Russia-Ukraine war sparking a massive arms requirement, South Korea has emerged as a winner.

Despite not supplying arms and weaponry to Ukraine directly, the country has become one of the leading exporters of military equipment.

According to a New York Times report, South Korean arms exports rose by 140 per cent in 2022.

With inputs from agencies