Europe
Poland: the last 2026 shipment of K2 tanks and K9 self-propelled guns from South Korea has arrived – where they are going and what remains
Poland’s Armament Agency says unloading has begun of the last 2026 shipment of K9 Thunder howitzers and K2 Black Panther tanks from South Korea, destined for the 16th Mechanised Division on NATO’s eastern flank.
Poland has received the last shipment of heavy equipment of the year from South Korea. Poland’s Armament Agency (Agencja Uzbrojenia) announced on Monday, November 9 that unloading has begun of several dozen K9 Thunder self-propelled guns and K2 Black Panther main battle tanks, purchased under the contracts of December 1, 2023 and August 1, 2025.
The equipment goes straight to the eastern flank. Within a few days it will reinforce units of the 16th Mechanised Division, the so-called “Amber Division”. The division reported that the new K2s and K9s have reached two of its brigades on NATO’s eastern flank and raise its capabilities “as a guarantor of security” of north-eastern Poland.
How many K2s have been received and what follows
The K2 programme rests on a framework agreement of July 2022 with Hyundai Rotem for up to 1,000 K2 tanks and the Polish K2PL variant. The first executive contract, worth $3.37 billion, concerned 180 K2s and was completed with the delivery of the last 20 in November 2025. The second, signed in August 2025 in Gliwice, provides for another 180 tanks: 116 in the K2GF version by the end of 2027 and 64 K2PL from 2028 to 2030. Of the K2PLs, 61 will be built at the Bumar-Łabędy plant.
The first shipment of the second contract, with 28 tanks, had raised the number of K2s Poland has received to 208. When the 116 K2GFs are completed, the Polish army will have 296 tanks of this version. The K2PLs will carry additional armour, an active protection system and an anti-drone system, while the same contract includes 31 recovery vehicles, 25 engineering vehicles and 25 bridge-layers on the K2 chassis, with deliveries in 2029-2031.
For the K9s from Hanwha Aerospace, Warsaw has ordered 218 K9A1 and 146 K9PL, which complement Poland’s own Krab self-propelled howitzers. In photos of the new shipment, Defence24 spots 81 mm smoke grenade launchers identical to those of the Krab and additional transport boxes, features that point to the “Polonised” K9PL version. The Korean K9s have also been chosen by other NATO countries, most recently Finland’s purchase of 112 K9 Thunders.
With the 2026 deliveries a large part of the purchases that began after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is closing. Warsaw continues to invest in heavy equipment, while the defence ministry is moving ahead with an urgent strategic review of drones and cheap long-range weapons.
