▲ This image, provided by Hyundai Rotem Co., shows a K2 tank. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

S Korea-Poland-arms exports

S. Korean firms ink follow-up contracts with Poland to export K2 tanks, K9 howitzers

SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Yonhap) -- Two South Korean defense firms have signed contracts -- worth US$5.76 billion in total -- with Poland to implement last month's deals to export K2 battle tanks and K9 self-propelled howitzers, Seoul's arms procurement agency said Saturday.

Hyundai Rotem Co. and Hanwha Defense inked the executive contracts with Warsaw's Armament Agency on Friday to supply K2 tanks and howitzers, respectively, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

DAPA did not disclose the terms of the contracts, but they are known to involve the initial export of 180 K2 tanks and 48 K9 howitzers under a broader procurement scheme.

The contracts were follow-up arrangements to last month's "framework" contracts that set the basic contours of the export deals. The signing event took place at a Polish mechanized unit in Morag, northern Poland.

Under the framework contracts, Poland is committed to procuring 980 K2 tanks and 648 K9 howitzers, as well as 48 FA-50 fighter jets, from the companies and Korea Aerospace Industries, according to Warsaw. It has described the deals as one of the country's "most important and largest" defense orders in recent years.

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