Hyundai Rotem from South Korea rolls out first 10 K2 tanks for Polish army

South Korean defense company Hyundai Rotem announced on October 19 that it had rolled out the first batch of 10 K2PL Black Panther tanks purchased by Poland, Tim Kim reports in Korea News Plus. The roll-out came two months after the company signed a contract to deliver a total of 180 K2PLs to Poland by the mid-2020s. Hyundai Rotem organized an official ceremony at its factory in Changwon, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The remaining 170 tanks will be delivered over the next three years.

Many dignitaries attended the roll-out event, including Polish Ambassador to South Korea Piotr Ostaszewski, and Major General Maciej Jablonski, Polish Army Inspector of the Land Forces, Tim Kim reports. “We will put forth great efforts to provide our K2 tanks to Poland in a stable way,” a Hyundai Rotem official said. Affiliated with Hyundai Motor, one of the world’s largest automakers, Hyundai Rotem is the only manufacturer of tanks in South Korea.

According to information on the Twitter account of the Polish Minister of Defense on August 26, 2022, Poland signed contracts with the South Korean defense industry for an amount of US$5.76 billion including the delivery of 180 K2 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) from 2022 to 2025. On July 27, 2022, the Army Recognition editorial team reported that Poland could order up to 980 K2 Main Battle Tanks, 648 K9 Thunder 155mm self-propelled howitzers, and 48 FA-50 fighter aircraft. For several years, Hyundai Rotem was offering a tailored version of its K2 Black Panther “tailored” to the needs and requirements of the Polish armed forces under the name of K2PL.

The K2 Black Panther main battle tank was designed by the Agency for Defense Development, and manufactured by Hyundai Rotem. Developed as a modern replacement for most of the then-remaining M48 Patton tanks still operated by the South Korean army, the K2 Black Panther is armed with an auto-loaded Rheinmetall 120mm/L55 smoothbore gun produced under license in South Korea. The tank is equipped with composite armor, extremely high-frequency pulse-doppler radar, along with soft and hard-kill active protection systems. Mass production started in 2013 and the first K2s were deployed with the South Korean armed forces in July 2014.