One contract for tanks from Korea has already been signed, and two more are on the way. The deadline is approaching.

• After the Armament Agency and the Korean concern Hyundai Rotem signed a contract for K2 tanks on August 1, Bumar-Łabędy and Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa are starting negotiations on two further contracts – for subcontracting and technology transfer.
• PGZ President Adam Leszkiewicz told the WNP that he wants to at least "draw up as much of the negotiations as possible" by October due to the expected government visit to South Korea.
• The parties are discussing the share of Polish industry in the final configuration of tanks designated K2PL.
• We will discuss challenges facing the military and the economy during the "Defense Industry" conference. The event will take place on October 15 at the International Congress Center in Katowice.

On August 1, an implementation agreement was signed at Bumar-Łabędy in Gliwice between the Ministry of National Defense Armaments Agency and the South Korean company Hyundai Rotem . This is the second implementation agreement for K2 for Poland; the first was signed in 2022. It covered only tanks, and only those from a factory in South Korea.

Subcontracting and technology transfer agreement

"After signing the executive agreement last week, we need to start further talks as soon as possible," PGZ President Adam Leszkiewicz told WNP. "The agreement is the start of industrial cooperation," he added.

Hyundai Rotem and Bumar-Łąbędy are now negotiating two more contracts. Łabędy's parent company, PGZ, has declared that it will support the Gliwice plant in these negotiations.

We have two agreements to sign – a subcontracting agreement that will specify more details, and one related to the transfer of technology to Bumar – explained the president of PGZ.

In the contract of August 1, Bumar-Łabędy was designated as a subcontractor of Hyundai Rotem, which in turn is the main contractor of the contract for the Armament Agency.

A crucial October

When asked about the timing of the negotiations, Leszkiewicz in an interview with WNP drew attention to the government visit to Korea, which is expected in October.

" By then, it would be good to finish these negotiations or push them forward as much as possible . This is my view of the calendar, and I know that President (of Bumar-Łabędy, Monika – ed.) Kruczek will approach it this way as well," said the PGZ president.

When Leszkiewicz pointed out that the timeline seemed ambitious, he replied that the August 1st agreement specified a delivery schedule, so all parties were eager to conclude the negotiations. The fact that Hyundai Rotem has an extensive representative office in Warsaw, according to PGZ, will certainly help in the talks. The CEO of the South Korean company was in Gliwice on August 1st and participated in talks with the head of PGZ. The next meeting of the CEOs is planned for the defense trade fair in Kielce in early September.

What is the share of Polish industry?

Leszkiewicz drew attention to the consequences of the fact that the agreement between the Armaments Agency and the Korean side has already been signed.

– Therefore, the negotiations will not be easy , but we will do everything to negotiate – he declared.

He emphasized that "today no one will responsibly answer the question of what the scope of participation of the Polish industry, including companies from the PGZ group, will be ", both products and services, "in the Polonized version of K2".

He mentioned that PGZ was presenting an offer from Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów (which can produce machine guns for tanks) and Wojskowe Zakłady Elektroniczne from Zielonka near Warsaw, as well as "other companies".

The Group's CEO assessed that price, whether the Koreans have available slots on the production line, and connections with subcontractors will certainly be key factors in the negotiations. The Korean side may have exclusive agreements with its current suppliers.

The military opens up about potential areas of industrial cooperation

The Ministry of Defense is discussing potential areas of cooperation between the Polish and South Korean arms industries in more detail. On August 1, the Armament Agency announced that the agreement signed that day provides for technology transfer, including the establishment of "production capacity (final assembly)" at Polish plants and the acquisition of full tank maintenance and operation capabilities. Hyundai Rotem is to equip Bumar-Łabędy with tools and production equipment to establish an assembly line for the K2PL tank and accompanying vehicles.

The Armament Agency also announced that the provisions of the executive agreement "establish the basis for establishing business cooperation" between Hyundai Rotem and entities from the Polish defense sector in the production of: hull, turret and chassis, hydropneumatic suspension, main armament (gun system) and automatic loading system .

PGZ representatives point out, however, that to their knowledge, these are general provisions about what the cooperation may involve. Therefore, they need to be translated into specifics.

Tank maintenance and repairs

Colonel Piotr Paluch, Deputy Head of the Armaments Agency, said that in addition to the ability to perform final assembly of tanks, the Agency also intends to establish a full range of services within Polish industry. This will allow for the performance of all possible work on tanks, including major overhauls .

We intend to operate this tank for at least the next 30 years, so Polish industry truly has a huge opportunity to be as involved as possible in all these processes. We're talking about servicing, warranty repairs, and further modernization and modification, meaning the introduction of Polish solutions and Polish engineering to this tank, as well as overhauls," Colonel Paluch said last week at a meeting with a group of MPs in the Sejm.

Implementation Agreement No. 2

Signed on August 1 in Łabędy, Implementation Agreement No. 2 between the Armament Agency and Hyundai Rotem is worth approximately $6.5 billion. It provides for the delivery of 180 K2 tanks between 2026 and 2030 .

Of these, 116 tanks are to be in the current configuration—the same configuration used by South Korean land forces—known in Poland as K2GF (gap filler). Deliveries of these vehicles are to be completed in 2026-2027.

The remaining 64 tanks are to be delivered between 2028 and 2030 in a configuration designated K2PL . Of these, 61 vehicles are to undergo final assembly at Bumar-Łabędy, while the first three will be manufactured and tested in South Korea.

In addition to the tanks, the contract covers 81 support vehicles – 31 recovery vehicles, 25 engineering vehicles, and the same number of support bridges. Their delivery is scheduled for 2029-31. "Companies from the Polish Armaments Group, including OBRUM Sp. z o. o. and Zakłady Mechaniczne 'Bumar-Łabędy' SA, will be involved in the design work," the Armaments Agency announced on August 1.

The executive agreement number 2 signed that day also includes a training and logistics package and the delivery of a "significant supply" of ammunition for tank cannons and machine guns. The logistics package includes, among other things, spare parts, special tool kits, test equipment, maintenance tools, and technical documentation. The training package includes training ammunition, on-board simulators, and training for instructors, crews, and technical personnel.

In total, Implementing Agreement No. 2 has approximately 1,400 pages in two languages.

Framework agreement and first implementation agreement

K2 Black Panther tanks were delivered to the Polish Army as part of a wave of purchases from South Korea undertaken by the Ministry of Defence, then headed by Mariusz Błaszczak (PiS), in 2022. This was a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the attempted overthrow of the government in Kyiv, as well as the transfer to Ukraine of numerous pieces of armament that had previously been held in Polish garrisons and warehouses.

Along with the K2 tanks, the acquisition also included K9 Thunder 155-millimeter self-propelled gun-howitzers and FA-50 combat trainer aircraft. Each of these purchases was divided into two parts . The first was simply the rapid delivery of the weapons in the same version as was currently in service with the army or in factories in South Korea (GF, or gap filler). The second phase was to involve the development of a version tailored to Polish requirements (PL) and subsequent delivery, in the case of the K2 and K9, also involving Polish industry.

The Ministry of National Defense signed framework agreements (expressing the intent to purchase) with Korean companies at the end of July 2022, and implementation agreements for the K2 and K9 at the end of August. The first delivery of the K2 arrived in Poland in December of the same year.

The initial implementation contract for 180 Korean-configured K2 tanks was worth $3.37 billion and envisaged deliveries between 2022 and 2025.

K2 tanks are used by units subordinate to the 16th Mechanized Division in Olsztyn – the 20th Mechanized Brigade in Bartoszyce (the vehicles are stationed at the garrison in Morąg), the 9th Armored Cavalry Brigade in Braniewo, and, since May, the 15th Mechanized Brigade in Giżycko (specifically, the battalion from Orzysz). In early June, the Armaments Agency informed the CIS that 133 of the 180 tanks ordered had been delivered.