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Poland signs $6.5 billion deal to purchase second batch of K2 tanks

Published: 02 Aug. 2025, 09:54 Updated: 03 Aug. 2025, 16:37

Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu-back talks during a signing ceremony in Gliwice, Poland, on Aug. 1. [YONHAP]

Poland on Friday signed a deal worth about $6.5 billion to purchase the second batch of K2 tanks from Hyundai Rotem, Seoul's Ministry of National Defense said, marking the largest-ever export contract won by a Korean defense contractor.

Under the deal, Poland will be supplied with 180 K2 tanks and 81 other support vehicles. It follows up on a contract signed in 2022 for the first batch of 180 K2 tanks amid a major armament push after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Hyundai Rotem will build 116 of the new batch of K2s, while the rest will be a Polish variant and produced by a defense company under Warsaw's state-owned PGZ. It will mark the first time that the K2 will be built in Poland.

The new K2s will begin production once the first batch is fully delivered by the end of this year.

Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and his Polish counterpart, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, attended the signing ceremony between Hyundai Rotem and Poland's armament agency in Gliwice in southern Poland.

"Through the signing of the second K2 executive contract, [we] have created an opportunity to solidify our strategic partnership beyond a simple relationship between a supplier and a user," Ahn was quoted as saying at the ceremony.

Hyundai Rotem said it expected to form a partnership with Poland for the joint development of ground-based weapons systems, considering that the latest contract will pave the way for the production of tanks in the country.

Before the ceremony, Ahn held talks with Kosiniak-Kamysz to discuss ways to deepen their countries' cooperation in the arms industry.

Ahn pledged support and training for Poland's use of Korean weapons systems, including the K2 and K9 self-propelled howitzers, and also proposed cooperation in Warsaw's other defense projects, including its plan to acquire submarines.

Ahn also invited his Polish counterpart to Seoul, to which Kosiniak-Kamysz replied he would make the visit at an early date, according to the ministry.

Yonhap