SEOUL, June 11 (AJP) - Defense manufacturer Hyundai Rotem is close to finalizing a multibillion-dollar arms agreement with Poland, paving the way for the delivery of an additional 180 K2 main battle tanks.
Valued at approximately 9 trillion won, or around $6 billion, the contract is expected to be signed by late June or early July, industry sourced close to the deal said Wednesday.
If concluded, it would mark the largest single arms export deal in South Korea’s history and the first major defense sale under President Lee Jae-myung’s administration.
The agreement constitutes the second phase of Poland’s acquisition of K2 tanks, following a 2022 contract that also covered 180 units. That earlier deal formed part of a broader framework under which Poland agreed to purchase up to 1,000 K2 tanks, along with K9 self-propelled howitzers and FA-50 light combat aircraft, in a sweeping effort to modernize its military in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The new contract will include two tank variants: 117 units of the K2 GF, a stopgap model based on the version currently used by the South Korean Army, and 63 units of the K2 PL, a locally customized variant tailored to meet Poland’s specific operational requirements.
Under the terms of the deal, Hyundai Rotem will manufacture the K2 GF tanks in South Korea. The K2 PL units, however, will be produced domestically in Poland by the state-owned defense conglomerate PGZ, under a technology transfer arrangement.
Defense officials attribute the sharp increase in the deal’s value — nearly double that of the 2022 agreement for the same number of tanks— to added costs associated with local production, maintenance and repair infrastructure, and extensive technology-sharing commitments.
"The Korean and Polish governments are currently in the final stage of negotiations regarding the K2 tank implementation agreement," said Cho Yong-jin, a spokesperson for South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense.
Negotiations for this second-phase deal began soon after the initial deliveries in 2022 but were slowed by political upheaval in Poland and the imposition of martial law in South Korea last December.
Still, sources familiar with the talks say that technical and logistical matters have largely been resolved, and that both sides are now finalizing the legal and procedural aspects of the agreement.
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