South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem and the Polish authorities have finalised a deal for the sale of 180 K2 most important battle tanks to equip the Polish Army. The settlement was introduced on June 2, two months after the 2 events have been reported to have reached an deadlock in negotiations. “The federal government persistently demonstrated its robust dedication to know-how switch and navy cooperation, incomes Poland’s deep belief by numerous coverage helps reminiscent of defence export financing,” the South Korean Defence Acquisition Program Administration introduced. The deal will see 63 of the 180 tanks assembled in Poland, which will probably be overseen by the Polish state-run defence group PGZ. New configurations of the tank, know-how transfers, and full upkeep, restore, and overhaul help, can even be offered, making the deal significantly extra expensive than the earlier order for 180 K2 tanks that was signed in 2022, at $6 billion – or $33.3 million per tank.
The Polish Army is ready to obtain the final 96 of 180 tanks already ordered earlier than the tip of 2025, with followup orders thought-about very important to permitting the service to proceed to rapidly retire its T-72 and PT-91 tanks. The older automobiles are being quickly transferred to the Ukrainian Army, and are very closely trusted to replenish losses suffered in ongoing hostilities with Russian and North Korean forces. Following the supply of a brand new batch of modernised T-72sin early March, bringing the estimated complete provide to over 300, the acceleration of K2 deliveries is anticipated to facilitate sooner deliveries of T-72s and PT-71s to Ukraine. The signing of a followup deal will be sure that the speed of deliveries of second hand tanks to Ukraine will probably be sustained. The Russian Army has itself struggled with a diminishing of tank provides, with its inventories of 1000’s of Soviet period tanks in reserve storage having come near exhaustion, whereas manufacturing charges of recent T-90 tanks, though rising near fourfold since 2022, are nonetheless removed from ample to replenish losses.
The K2 is presently broadly thought-about essentially the most succesful tank class fielded by a NATO member state, with Poland’s plans to obtain an estimated 1000 of the automobiles, and Turkey’s plans to accumulate an identical quantity, considerably shifting the steadiness of energy on the bottom in Japanese Europe. Poland’s border of over 500 kilometres with Ukraine, main funding in its land forces, and outstandingly hardline place towards doable peace talks with Moscow, have contributed to hypothesis that the nation could actively deploy floor forces to seize elements of Ukraine ought to the nation’s complete fall underneath Russian management seem seemingly. Polish contractor models such because the Polish Volunteer Corps have already performed a very central function within the Ukrainian struggle effort on a number of fronts, together with lately within the Sumy area. Whereas the K2 is already broadly thought-about essentially the most succesful NATO normal tank in manufacturing, a successor is presently underneath improvement underneath the K3 program, and is anticipated to be closely marketed to Poland and different European states. The subsequent era South Korean car is more likely to additional widen the efficiency hole between with competing automobiles produced by Germany, which was beforehand Poland and Turkey’s largest tank provider earlier than being supplanted by East Asian competitors.
