Poland receives first consignment of Korean tanks, howitzers - News - National Security Bureau

06.12.2022

Poland receives first consignment of Korean tanks, howitzers

Poland has taken delivery of the first of hundreds of main battle tanks and howitzers from South Korea.

Ten K2 tanks and 24 K9 self–propelled howitzers were unloaded at the port city of Gdynia in the presence of President Andrzej Duda and Mariusz Blaszczak, the defence minister.

Speaking at the unloading ceremony, Andrzej Duda drew attention to the speed with which the weapons had been delivered, saying that a law on homeland defence had been adopted in the spring and a contract for the equipment signed in the summer.

„And now the process of modernising and strengthening the Polish army is physically occurring, not only through procurements but above all by the delivery from South Korea of K2 tanks and K9 howitzers for the Polish Army,” Andrzej Duda said.

„The first 10 tanks have just arrived in our country, here in Gdynia,” the president said. „In a moment they will go to military units where they will undergo the final process of preparation and implementation for their use by our armed forces.”

The president added that the rapid delivery of the hardware was needed given what was happening in Ukraine.

„For months, since February 24, since Russia invaded Ukraine, we have all clearly seen one thing – that only the heroism of a soldier equipped with modern, effective weaponry is in a position to halt Russian imperial ambition and Russian brutality,” he said.

„To prevent aggression, to halt the enemy, the possession of this equipment by the army is necessary,” Andrzej Duda continued. „Today this weaponry, super–modern for the Polish Army, to equip Polish soldiers, has become a fact, it has become part of the equipment of the Polish Armed Forces.” (PAP)