Poland and South Korea Finalise $6 Billion Deal For 180 K2 Tanks: How Will it Strengthen Ukraine?

<p >South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem and the Polish government have finalised a deal for the sale of 180 K2 main battle tanks to equip the Polish Army. The agreement was announced on June 2, two months after the two parties were reported to have <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/skorea-poland-stuck-impasse-k2-tank-sales" >reached an impasse </a>in negotiations. “The government consistently demonstrated its strong commitment to technology transfer and military cooperation, earning Poland’s deep trust through various policy supports such as defence export financing,” the South Korean Defence Acquisition Program Administration announced. The deal will see 63 of the 180 tanks assembled in Poland, which will be overseen by the Polish state-run defence group PGZ. New configurations of the tank, technology transfers, and full maintenance, repair, and overhaul support, will also be provided, making the deal considerably more costly than the previous order for 180 K2 tanks that was signed in 2022, at $6 billion – or $33.3 million per tank.</p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/07/03/article_686604d7a81b99_77592579.jpeg" title="Polish Army K2 Tank"></p><p >The Polish Army is set to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/south-korea-to-triple-tank-deliveries-to-poland-96-k2s-incoming-in-2025-production-surge">receive</a> the last 96 of 180 tanks already ordered before the end of 2025, with followup orders considered vital to allowing the service to continue to quickly retire its T-72 and PT-91 tanks. The older vehicles are being rapidly transferred to the Ukrainian Army, and are very heavily depended on to replenish losses suffered in ongoing hostilities with Russian and North Korean forces. Following the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-receives-large-batch-t72-tanks-poland">delivery</a> of a new batch of modernised T-72s  in early March, bringing the estimated total supply to over 300, the acceleration of K2 deliveries is expected to facilitate faster deliveries of T-72s and PT-71s to Ukraine. The signing of a followup deal will ensure that the rate of deliveries of second hand tanks to Ukraine will be sustained. The Russian Army has itself struggled with a diminishing of tank supplies, with its inventories of thousands of Soviet era tanks in reserve storage having come close to exhaustion, while <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/returning-tank-production-soviet-era-levels-russia-over-3000">production rates</a> of new T-90 tanks, although increasing close to fourfold since 2022, are still far from sufficient to replenish losses. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/07/03/article_6866046b330f49_14822923.jpg" title="Polish Volunteer Corps Personal in Ukraine (Dnipro Today)"></p><p >The K2 is currently widely considered the most capable tank class fielded by a NATO member state, with Poland’s plans to procure an estimated 1000 of the vehicles, and Turkey’s plans to acquire a similar number, significantly shifting the balance of power on the ground in Eastern Europe. Poland’s border of over 500 kilometres with Ukraine, major investment in its land forces, and <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/poland-says-no-room-for-negotiations-with-russia-pm-compares-to-negotiation-with-hitler-and-calls-for-fight-against-moscow" >outstandingly hardline</a> position against possible peace talks with Moscow, have contributed to speculation that the country may actively deploy ground forces to capture parts of Ukraine should the country’s total fall under Russian control appear likely. Polish contractor units such as the Polish Volunteer Corps have already played a <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/foreign-combatants-donbas-battles-russia" >particularly central role</a> in the Ukrainian war effort on multiple fronts, including recently <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/colombian-polish-ukrainian-defences-sumy" >in the Sumy region</a>. While the K2 is already widely considered the most capable NATO standard tank in production, a successor is <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/skorean-tank-industry-bolstering-leadership-k3" >currently under development</a> under the K3 program, and is expected to be heavily marketed to Poland and other European states. The next generation South Korean vehicle is likely to further widen the performance gap between with competing vehicles produced by Germany, which was previously Poland and Turkey’s largest tank supplier before being supplanted by East Asian competition. </p>

Source link