WARSAW, Poland — In a bid to broaden the tracked car fleet of the nation’s land forces, the Polish Ministry of Nationwide Defence has ordered 180 K2 Black Panther tanks with 81 accompanying autos from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem. The deal is price round $6.5 billion.
The contract was signed at present in Gliwice, Poland, within the presence of Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the nation’s Deputy Prime Minister and Nationwide Defence Minister, and South Korean Protection Minister Ahn Gyu-back who’s on an official go to to Poland.
Beneath the plan, the tanks are to be provided to the Polish Armed Forces between 2026 and 2030. Of those, 116 tanks shall be produced within the K2GF variant which is manufactured in South Korea, and 64 autos shall be procured within the K2PL variant, the Polish ministry mentioned in a press release.
After the primary three K2PL models are made at a South Korean plant, Poland’s protection business will take over manufacturing actions for the remaining 61 tanks of this model. Bumar-Łabędy, a subsidiary of the state-owned PGZ group, will deal with their manufacturing.
“The brand new models shall be higher outfitted than the prevailing ones, and manufacturing shall be launched subsequent 12 months. Within the years 2028 to 2030, we plan to have full-scale home manufacturing,” Kosiniak-Kamysz mentioned throughout the signing ceremony.
The most recent growth marks Poland’s second government deal for the acquisition of K2 tanks. In 2022, the nation ordered the primary batch of 180 tracked autos. Beneath the framework contract, Warsaw can purchase as much as 1,000 K2s which may make it the principle tank utilized by the nation’s land forces.
The tank deal comes following heated negotiations between Warsaw and Seoul on the monetary phrases of the contracted South Korean weapon deliveries secured by the earlier Polish authorities.
Along with the K2 framework settlement, the centrist cupboard of Prime Minister Donald Tusk inherited quite a few main contracts for the acquisition of FA-50 mild assault plane, K9 howitzers, and Chunmoo launchers.
Poland has accelerated efforts to broaden its tank fleet within the aftermath of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Seeking to profit from South Korea’s mass manufacturing capacities and lenient coverage towards know-how transfers, Warsaw has moved to amass South Korean protection tools at a scale that makes it Seoul’s key shopper in Europe.
