Korean defense companies are pushing deeper into NATO’s eastern flank, expanding beyond Poland into the Balkan and Baltic markets, including Croatia and Estonia.
The latest deal involves the procurement of Hanwha Aerospace’s 18 K239 Chunmoo multiple launch rocket systems worth 640 billion won ($477.5 million) by Croatia’s Ministry of Defence. Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back attended the signing that concluded the deal in Zagreb on Thursday, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). The Ministry of National Defense called it Korea’s first defense export to Croatia.
The Hanwha contract accounts for most, but not all, of a larger Croatian purchase. Zagreb's cabinet approved the full package on Friday at 544 million euros ($633.1 million), with the remainder covering a command and control system from WB Electronics, part of Poland's WB Group. Croatia is the fourth European buyer of the system, after Poland, Estonia and Norway.
The package covers launchers, guided rockets with a range of about 80 kilometers (50 miles) and CTM-290 tactical ballistic missiles. They will replace Croatia’s M-92 Vulkan and Soviet BM-21 Grad launchers.
“Delivery of the complete package is planned within 24 to 36 months,” Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ivan Anusic said on Friday, attributing the run of European orders to short lead times, availability, price and openness to industrial cooperation.
The country plans to raise defense spending from 2.01 percent of GDP in 2025 to 5 percent by 2032. It ordered eight Himars launchers from the United States in December 2024 and bought 12 secondhand Rafale fighters from France in 2021.
Poland remains the largest customer for the launcher system, which it builds locally as Homar-K, with contracts signed in 2022, 2024 and 2025 worth more than 12 trillion won in total. A roughly $4 billion agreement in December covers production of CGR-080 guided rockets at a plant in Poland from 2030. Norway ordered 16 launchers in January under a contract worth about $922 million.
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, right, shakes hands with his Croatian counterpart, Gordan Grlic Radman, ahead of their meeting at the foreign ministry in Seoul on May 25.YONHAP
Military budgets along the alliance’s eastern and northeastern edge have risen sharply since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Lithuania has budgeted close to 4.8 billion euros for defense in 2026, about 5.4 percent of GDP, and Estonia 2.4 billion euros, or 5.43 percent.
Among the Baltic States, Estonia moved swiftly. The Estonian Centre for Defence Investments signed a contract worth about 290 million euros in December for six Chunmoo launchers and three missile types, then added three more launchers in a government-to-government deal on May 11, taking the fleet to nine.
Deliveries begin in the second half of 2027, and Hanwha has agreed to invest roughly a fifth of the contract value in Estonian industry. Estonia has operated K9 howitzers since 2018.
Lee Yong-cheol, the DAPA commissioner, met Siim Sukles, Estonia’s undersecretary for defense industry and innovation, at the 34th International Defence Industry Exhibition, known by its Polish acronym MSPO, on Wednesday. DAPA said the talks covered joint research, joint production and follow-on logistics support.
Progress elsewhere in the Baltics is slower. Lithuanian Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas met Korean Ambassador Jeon Jo-young on Aug. 7 to discuss counter-drone systems, short-range air defense and possible local production. No contract has been signed. Latvia has bought its medium-range air defense from Germany’s Diehl Defence.
Lee Yong-cheol, commissioner of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, left, meets Siim Sukles, Estonia's undersecretary for defense industry and innovation, right, at the International Defence Industry Exhibition in Kielce, Poland, on Sept. 9.DEFENSE ACQUISITION PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
The Polish show runs through Friday in Kielce. The organizer said it drew more than 1,200 exhibitors from 42 countries this year. Sixteen Korean companies took booths, and DAPA ran a joint pavilion for eight smaller suppliers.
Hyundai Rotem showed the Polish variant of its K2 tank, the K2PL, for the first time with Polish subsystems fitted, five months after an agreement to assemble 61 of the 180 tanks ordered in August 2025 at Bumar-Labedy in Poland.
Hanwha Aerospace and Hanwha Systems showed air defense and unmanned systems, including the Striker-S unmanned surface vessel fitted with a Chunmoo launcher, which the companies said is aimed at Baltic naval modernization programs. Korea Aerospace Industries displayed the KF-21 fighter and the FA-50, of which Poland ordered 48 in 2022.
“Poland is an important strategic partner for our defense companies entering the European market,” Lee said.
