By 2030, Poland will have more tanks than the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy together

Poland should have more tanks by 2030 than the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy gathered, after having signed an agreement for the purchase of 180 South Korean K2.

This agreement, worth more than 6 billion euros, is the last stage of the military expansion of Poland, motivated by the war in neighboring Ukraine and the crisis on the Belarusian border since 2021.

Poland devotes 4.7 % of its GDP to La Défense, the highest share of NATO countries.

“It is a good thing for the security of our country and for our armament industry. The agreement begins the process of restoring tanks in our country,” wrote the Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Polish NATO delegation. -wrote the Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Ministry of Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz in a message on the X platform.

Poland will have a total of 1,100 tanks once the agreement, which includes 61 tanks produced in Poland, has been finalized.

Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and France have a total of 950 tanks. Only two NATO member states – Greece and Turkey – will have more tanks than Poland once the agreement was finalized.

Turkey currently has 2238 tanks and Greece 1344.

Poland began to buy tanks in South Korea in 2022. The Minister of Defense at the time, Mariusz Błaszczak, had qualified this purchase as a “win-win situation for the two countries”.

In the past, Poland has also bought K239 Chunmoo rocket launchers from South Korea, Light FA-50 Light Combat Airplanes and K9 Hoor Shortwords.

Poland has also bought Abrams tanks, Apache helicopters, Himars artillery launchers and Patriotic anti-missile defense systems in the United States. At the beginning of the year, the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, described Poland as “NATO model ally”.

In addition to the 180 tanks, the new agreement includes 81 support vehicles, logistics training, a complete maintenance and repair program as well as a technology transfer clause.

The signing of the agreement coincided with the 81st anniversary of the Warsaw uprisingto which the Minister of Defense referred to at the signature ceremony. He thanked the participants in the insurrection and those who lost their lives there.

“It is in the name of their memory and their heroism that we sign this contract today,” said Kosiniak-Kamsz.

“Thank you for this contract, I am very proud of it and I am happy that together we built a strong, safe and prosperous Poland,” he concluded.