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

(ATTN: REWRITES 3rd para with Polish ministry's tweet; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, Aug. 27 (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 K9 howitzers, respectively, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA)

DAPA did not disclose the terms of the contracts. But Poland's Ministry of National Defense tweeted that the contracts called for the delivery of 180 K2 tanks in the 2022-25 period and of 212 K9 howitzers in the 2022-26 period.

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.

sshluck@yna.co.kr
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