Poland to produce over 800 South Korean K2 tanks as part of order for Polish army

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – Poland will produce over 800 South Korean K2 tanks as part of an order for the Polish army, the country’s defense minister announced Thursday.

“Of the 1,000 tanks (for the Polish army) for which we signed an agreement with Seoul, 180 will be directly purchased from the producer country, South Korea, and the rest, 820, will be produced in Poland, Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said during his visit to a military factory in Poznan where the tanks will be manufactured.

“Here, at the Military Automobile Plant in Poznan, K2 tanks will be serviced, overhauled and produced. This is good news for Poznan,” he added.

He said the agreement for the tanks would provide a significant workload for Polish companies and technology transfer.

Noting that the first batch of tanks from the 180, which arrived in December last year, is already operational in a mechanized division in the country's northeast, Błaszczak argued that more tanks would be delivered to the military units this year.

He also said the tanks would be a deterrent force against the threat posed by Russia.