WARSAW, Poland — In a bid to expand the tracked vehicle fleet of the country’s land forces, the Polish Ministry of National Defence has ordered 180 K2 Black Panther tanks with 81 accompanying vehicles from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem. The deal is worth around $6.5 billion.
The contract was signed today in Gliwice, Poland, in the presence of Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the nation’s Deputy Prime Minister and National Defence Minister, and South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back who is on an official visit to Poland.
Under the plan, the tanks are to be supplied to the Polish Armed Forces between 2026 and 2030. Of these, 116 tanks will be produced in the K2GF variant which is manufactured in South Korea, and 64 vehicles will be procured in the K2PL variant, the Polish ministry said in a statement.
After the first three K2PL units are made at a South Korean plant, Poland’s defense industry will take over manufacturing activities for the remaining 61 tanks of this version. Bumar-Łabędy, a subsidiary of the state-owned PGZ group, will handle their production.
“The new units will be better equipped than the existing ones, and production will be launched next year. In the years 2028 to 2030, we plan to have full-scale domestic production,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said during the signing ceremony.
The latest development marks Poland’s second executive deal for the purchase of K2 tanks. In 2022, the country ordered the first batch of 180 tracked vehicles. Under the framework contract, Warsaw can acquire up to 1,000 K2s which could make it the main tank used by the nation’s land forces.
The tank deal comes following heated negotiations between Warsaw and Seoul on the financial terms of the contracted South Korean weapon deliveries secured by the previous Polish government.
In addition to the K2 framework agreement, the centrist cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk inherited numerous major contracts for the purchase of FA-50 light attack aircraft, K9 howitzers, and Chunmoo launchers.
Poland has accelerated efforts to expand its tank fleet in the aftermath of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Looking to benefit from South Korea’s mass production capacities and lenient policy toward technology transfers, Warsaw has moved to acquire South Korean defense equipment at a scale that makes it Seoul’s key client in Europe.
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.