South Korea and Poland Stuck at Impasse Over K2 Tank Sales: Ukraine’s Armour Supplies at Risk

<p >South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem and the Polish government have reached an impasse in <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/poland-moves-ahead-purchase-180-skorean-k2-tanks" target="_blank">negotiations</a> for the sale of a second batch for K2 main battle tanks, fuelling speculation that procurements for the Polish Army could end at just 180 tanks out of a planned fleet of over 1000. The first contract to procure 180 K2s was signed by the Polish Defence Ministry in August 2022, and 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 vehicles this year. The ministry was reported in March to be preparing to sign a $6.2 billion contract to procure 180 additional tanks, with Polish government officials have confirmed at the time that the new agreement was expected to be finalised by April. Issues that have held up negotiations include disputes over pricing, technology transfer, and the terms of local production, with Polish demands reportedly viewed as excessive. Production of the K2 in Poland is considerably less efficient than production in South Korea, and has almost doubled the average cost per unit to $34.4 million. Delays in securing a deal have fuelled significant protests by workers at the Polish Armaments Group’s defence firm Bumar Labedy, who have raised concerns over a production gap between K2 batches that could have disruptive implications for industry.</p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/04/08/article_67f5ac27ba9515_49383002.jpeg" title="Polish Army K2 Tank"></p><p >Possible delays to Poland’s procurement of K2 tanks could have important implications for future tank deliveries to the Ukrainian Army, as rapid delivery of the South Korean vehicles to re-equip Polish units has allowed retired Soviet designed T-72 and PT-71 tanks to be delivered to Ukraine in significant numbers. Following the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-receives-large-batch-t72-tanks-poland" >delivery</a> of a new batch of modernised T-72 tanks in early March, bringing the estimated total supply to over 300, the acceleration of K2 deliveries from 2025 was expected to facilitate faster deliveries of T-72s and PT-71s to Ukraine, ensuring that the Eastern European state would be able to continue to receive T-72s from 2026-2027. A combination of factors including the K2’s much newer and in many respects more sophisticated design than competing Western tanks, and the much greater rates at which the vehicles can be delivered, led Poland as well as neighbouring Turkey to invest heavily in procuring the vehicles, with both states planning to procure fleets of approximately 1000 and produce them under license. </p><p >The K2 uses a NATO standard 120mm main gun, which reportedly relies on a domestic derivative of the German DM63 APFSDS projectiles, although it lacks proper high explosive fragmentation projectiles which limits its anti infantry capabilities. The tank does, however, integrate unique top attack projectiles which parachute at slow speeds towards their targets. The South Korean tank class has frontal armour protection levels of over 800mm against APFSDS rounds, and benefits from explosive reactive armour and a hard kill active protection system. It has a 70 km/h forward speed, but is considerably slower in reverse. </p>

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