Poland to buy 180 tanks from South Korea
PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A Polish K2 tank maneuvers on the firing range for a live fire demonstration in Bemowo Piskie, Poland on March 31, 2023. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Matthew A. Foster via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)
SEOUL - South Korea is close to signing a deal worth around $6 billion to supply 180 K2 tanks for Poland, Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday.
Under the contract, South Korea's Hyundai Rotem, which specialises in industrial and defence contracts, will manufacture 117 tanks, and Poland state-owned Polish Armaments Group will produce the rest locally, Yonhap said.
Hyundai Rotem was not immediately available for comment.
The signing ceremony will take place in late June in Poland, Yonhap said, citing an anonymous industry source.
The two countries in 2022 reached a $13.7 billion arms deal, Seoul's biggest ever, which included supplies of South Korean K2 tanks, rocket launchers and fighter jets to Poland.
South Korea used the deal to lay the groundwork for a military-industrial juggernaut that the two nations' defence companies hope would feed Europe's hunger for weapons far into the future.
The K2 tank supply contract, part of the broader deal in 2022, was expected to be finalised by the end of last year but appeared to be delayed, partly due to South Korea's political crisis sparked by the short-lived declaration of martial law in December, Yonhap added.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Lincoln Feast // REUTERS)
