[News Today] 2nd K2 tank deal with Poland finalized

[LEAD]
Poland is moving ahead with a second major purchase of South Korea's K2 Black Panther tanks.
The newly confirmed deal follows the initial 2022 contract for 180 units. With this latest agreement, a large-scale second export has officially been sealed.

[REPORT]
An additional 180 K2 Black Panther tanks are to be exported to Poland.

The deal amounts to roughly 6.4 billion U.S. dollars, or 9 trillion won.

It is a record high sum for export of a single weapon system.

In the first contract, finished products manufactured in Korea were exported.

But this time, about 60 tanks or one-third of the contracted amount are to be produced locally.

Poland had requested this condition,

which entailed developing the K2 tanks customized for Poland and assembling the parts locally.

To meet this condition, Korea needs to transfer not only the technology but also the capability to maintain, repair and operate the weapon system.

The export unit price could go up higher as the areas of bilateral cooperation are to expand as well.

As Europe started to re-arm itself, the deal became more significant in that it provided a cooperation model to expand Korea's presence in the European market.

Seok Jong-gun / Minister, Defense Acquisition Program Administration
There were areas that couldn't be resolved by European weapons.
I believe other European nations will see that cooperating with Korea in the defense industry is the best solution to fill those gaps.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization members have recently agreed to increase their defense spending target to 5% of their gross national product.

The Korean government plans to use the experience gained from the recent arms deal to keep increasing the export of Korean defense systems to Europe.