Poland Moves Ahead with $6.2 Billion Purchase of 180 South Korean K2 Tanks

<p >The Polish Defence Ministry is preparing to sign a $6.2 billion contract to procure 180 additional South Korean <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/nato-top-tankfirst-live-fire" >K2 Black Panther</a> main battle tanks, following a prior contract signed in August 2022 for a previous 180 K2s. This first order is set to be completed in 2025 as Polish Army <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/south-korea-to-triple-tank-deliveries-to-poland-96-k2s-incoming-in-2025-production-surge" >receives</a> the last 96 K2s. Polish government officials have confirmed that the new agreement is expected to be finalised by April 2025, and will bring the Polish fleet of Korean tanks up to 360 vehicles. It is expected that tanks delivered under the second contract will be assembled locally, with the Polish Defence Ministry reported to be planning to procure 1000 K2s with growing portions of local inputs between batches. The large scale procurement of the K2, and rapid rate of delivery by South Korea, allows Poland to supply its Soviet designed T-72 and PT-71 tanks to Ukraine in significant numbers, with a new batch of modernised T-72 having been <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-receives-large-batch-t72-tanks-poland" >supplied</a> in early March bringing the estimated total supply to over 300. Acceleration of K2 deliveries in 2025 is expected to thus facilitate faster deliveries of T-72s to Ukraine, while the signing of a second contract to procure more K2s will ensure that Ukraine will be able to continue to receive T-72s from 2026-2027. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/03/10/article_67ce5c0a61b108_76474502.jpeg" title="Polish Army K2 Tank"></p><p >In November 2024 the Polish Army <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/poland-k2-tanks-russian-border" >deployed</a> K2 tanks under the 16th Pomeranian Mechanised Division in Braniewo, a few kilometres from the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad region – a territory surrounded by NATO forces and cut off from the Russian mainland. This followed a decision by Warsaw to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/poland-triple-forces-belarusian-border" >triple of the country’s forces </a>on the Belarusian border from August. These deployments have been cause for serious concern in Russia, with the K2’s advanced capabilities making it in many respects the most capable tank fielded by any NATO member state. Although the Soviet Union previously led the world in the capabilities of its main battle tanks with the introduction of the T-54 in the 1940s, T-64 in the 1960s, and T-80 the following decade, Russia has since fallen significantly behind, with its T-14 remaining well over a decade behind schedule leaving its forces heavily dependant on modernised Soviet built T-72s. Russia anti tank capabilities have nevertheless been improved significantly with the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/nkorean-bulsae4-antitank-takes-out-ukraine-artillery-kursk" target="_blank">procurement of North Korean Bulsae-4</a> anti tank missile systems, which provide the Russian Army with its first first non-line of sight anti-tank missile capabilities that have been used to great effect in the Ukrainian theatre. As the two Koreas arm opposing sides in Eastern Europe, it is expected that Russia and Eastern European NATO members will rely increasingly heavily on North and South Korean armaments. </p>

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