This information was spreaded by Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak on Wednesday.
"Today a ship arrived in the port of Gdynia delivering more Korean K2 tanks and K9 howitzers. Thus we are supplementing our military units with equipment from South Korea, which comes as the implementation of last year’s agreements," Błaszczak said.
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As he supplemented in a Twitter post, five K2 tanks and twelve K9 howitzers arrived at the port of Gdynia on Wednesday. He recalled that the first delivery of Korean equipment arrived in Poland last December.
The tanks and howitzers will go to the 16th Mechanized Division, in the Warmińsko-Mazurskie province. "Both the howitzers and the tanks will go to the eastern part of our country, to the units that are responsible for the security of our country in the east, to the Warmińsko-Mazurskie province, which is the province that borders Russia," he said.
He added that the deployment location was not picked coincidentally.
"The idea is to create a force capable of deterring an aggressor. Putin should think a few times before making a bad decision to attack Poland,” Błaszczak said, adding that the Polish armed forces were getting stronger and were equipped with cutting-edge equipment.
"This is the implementation in practice of the doctrine of deterrence and defense, the doctrine of the North Atlantic Alliance," the defense minister said, drawing attention to the permanent presence of U.S. troops in Poland.
Last July, Poland’s Ministry of Defense concluded a framework agreement providing for the purchase of 672 Hanwha Aerospace-produced 155mm howitzers on the K9A1 crawler chassis as well as its K9PL version designed in line with Poland’s requirements. The agreement also included auxiliary vehicles, training and logistics package, ammunition stockpiles, and technical support. The framework agreement for the purchase of K2 tanks manufactured by Huyndai Rotem provides for the purchase of 1,000 of these vehicles.
In August, an executive contract was signed for 212 howitzers for USD 2.4 bn, with deliveries scheduled for 2022-2026.
The executive contract for K2 tanks provides for the purchase of 180 of these vehicles for USD 5.8 bn. According to the framework agreement, 820 tanks ordered in a further stage are to be manufactured under license in Poland. The first delivery consisting of 10 tanks and 24 howitzers was ceremonially received last December by President Andrzej Duda and the head of the Ministry of Defense.
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