Hyundai Rotem delivers first batch of K2 tanks to Poland in $3.4 bn deal

Hyundai Rotem Co., a South Korean defense equipment maker, said on Wednesday it has delivered the first batch of its battle tanks to Poland as part of a $3.4 billion weapons deal it signed with the Baltic country in August.

Hyundai Rotem, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co., said 10 units of the K2 Black Panther, a next-generation main battle tank, safely arrived in Gdynia, a port city on the Baltic Sea coast in the northernmost part of Poland.

The tanks are part of the 180 K2 tanks Poland agreed to purchase from Hyundai Rotem in a $3.4 billion contract – Korea’s first export of such battle tanks.

The first batch of tanks was manufactured at Hyundai Rotem’s Changwon plant in South Gyeongsang Province in October.

Separately, Hanwha Defense Co. said it has also delivered the first batch of 24 K9 self-propelled howitzers to Poland as part of a total of 212 units worth $2.4 billion.

The arrival ceremony held at the port of Gdynia, about 300 km north of Warsaw, the capital, was attended by Polish President Andrzej Duda, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak as well as Sebastian Chwałek, president of Poland’s state-run defense group PGZ.

From Korea, Eom Dong-hwan, head of Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration, and Hyundai Rotem Chief Executive Lee Yong-bae and other defense officials attended the ceremony.

The K2 tank and K9 howitzer contracts are part of a broader $15 billion deal forged in July between Korea’s weapons makers and Poland’s defense authorities.

Under the megadeal, Poland agreed to buy 980 units of the K2 tanks, 648 units of the K9 self-propelled howitzers and 48 units of the FA-50 light combat aircraft.

Poland has been aggressively purchasing weapons, mainly from South Korea, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. A member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Poland has sent its MIG-29 warplanes to Ukraine in support of its government.

(Updated with the delivery of Hanwha Defense's 24 K9 self-propelled howitzers to Poland)

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.