Poland will sign a fresh contract for the transportation of Korean K2 tanks, announced by the head of MON Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. As he assured, it will not be the first deal off the bank, due to the fact that it is essential to supply backing and polonization of tanks.
At a press conference at the global Defence manufacture Salon (MSPO) in Kielce, the head of MON was asked to sign another executive agreement to deliver to the Polish army further South Korean K2 tanks. According to the announcement of the Ministry of Defence from erstwhile months, another contract for the transportation of 180 machines was to be signed in September, most likely at the Kielce Fair, but this did not happen.
The absence of a signed agreement was criticised in the entry on X by erstwhile head of the MON and politician PiS Mariusz Błaszczak. “A year ago, during the MSPO, I signed executive contracts for additional batteries of the Patriot and Narew strategy and for the subsequent Marine Rocket Units. This year, the department's management promised a contract for K2 tanks and we got... contracts for radio receivers, handling cranes and contamination detection systems. What power, specified a MON...” he wrote.
When asked about this case Kosiniak-Kamysz stated that Błaszczak “cannot accept that he is no longer a minister” and assured: “Of course, we are working on an agreement”. "Only it must be precise and have secured funding," he said.
"The Minister (Błaszczak – PAP) left us no backing in many areas – for example, 46 billion in unsecured infrastructure for the next 10 years. That is why we gotta multiply the budget so much and look for different sources of funding, due to the fact that our predecessors did not do so," Kosiniak-Kamish said.
“But we will sign a good contract for Poland. Not the first deal to be laid, but the good deal. (...) The most crucial thing – I want to make the product more popular than our predecessors, so that the K2 tanks can be produced in Poland faster”, he said. He added that "the agreement is in the process of finalising".
The first contract for transportation to Poland of 180 K2 tanks produced in Korea was signed in July 2022, under the regulation of MON Mariusz Błaszczak. At the same time, a broader framework agreement was signed, providing for a full of 1000 tanks to be delivered to the Polish army, the remaining 820 of which would be subject to deeper polonization, and the tanks would yet be produced in Poland.
Currently 180 tanks are being delivered from the first executive agreement, but they are colonized to a tiny degree – only the communication systems produced by the WB Group are Polish. The acquisition of these tanks was justified by the anticipation of fast deliveries, which became crucial for filling gaps created after in 2022 and 2023 Poland transferred respective 100 of its tanks from the T-72 household defending itself against Russia Ukraine.
According to the framework agreement signed in 2022, K2 is intended to become the most widely utilized kind of tank by the Polish Army. Therefore, negotiations are presently underway on further implementing agreements implementing the framework agreement – the transportation to the WP of further tanks and their polonization (to the version called K2PL). In June, Deputy Prime Minister, head of MON Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that most likely in September, at the Kielce MSPO, another executive contract for the transportation of another 180 tanks would be signed.
Kosiniak-Kamysz assured that K2 would yet be created in Poland, announced that the goal was to get any tanks from the planned agreement in Polish plants. He added that he received from the Korean side assurances about the seamless transfer of needed technology.
Source: PAP 
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