South Korea’s largest arms contract with Poland—$13.7 billion—lays the framework for a military-industrial juggernaut that the two nations’ defense corporations hope will feed Europe’s weapons appetite for decades.

According to the defense ministry, as Western countries rushed to arm Ukraine and tensions escalated in North Korea and the South China Sea, South Korea’s arms sales rose to almost $17 billion in 2022 from $7.25 billion the year before.
Last year, a crucial NATO member, Poland, bought hundreds of Chunmoo rocket launchers, K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers, and FA-50 fighter planes. Even the world’s biggest defense players noticed the deal’s value and number of weapons.

South Korean and Polish officials said their alliance would help them dominate the European arms industry beyond the Ukraine war, with Seoul providing high-quality weapons faster than other countries and Poland providing manufacturing capacity and a sales funnel into Europe.
Thirteen company executives and government officials, including those directly involved in the deal, told Reuters that the arrangement provides a blueprint for using international public-private partnerships and consortiums to expand Seoul’s reach and become one of the world’s largest weapons suppliers.

“The Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and others were thinking of buying defence products only in Europe, but now it is more well known that you can buy at a low price and have it delivered quickly from Korean companies,” said Oh Kyeahwan, a Hanwha Aerospace director involved in the Poland deal.

South Korean weaponry, sometimes sold with support vehicles and replacement components, is not priced.
According to N.H. Research & Securities, Hanwha Aerospace will increase its global Howitzer market share from 55% to 68% with the Poland purchase.

Lukasz Komorek, director of the Export Projects Office at the state-owned Polish Armaments Group (PGZ), said the deal created consortiums of South Korean and Polish companies to build weapons, maintain fighter jets, and supply other European countries.

Seoul and Warsaw’s authorities claimed Poland would license-build South Korean armaments. Instead, Instead, Polish firms will build 500 820 tanks and 300 672 howitzers starting in 2026.

“We don’t want to just play the role of subcontractor, technological transfer provider, and purchaser,” Komorek added. “We can both create synergy and use our experiences to conquer the European markets.”

Sash Tusa, a defense and aerospace analyst at Agency Partners in Britain, said that while both countries have strong defense industries, long-term plans will confront challenges. He added political winds might change, cutting the need for howitzers and tanks. Tusa said European countries might want co-production agreements with South Korea, like Poland’s, to create jobs and boost industry even if production and demand hold up.

“It may work for some countries at very, very low volume,” he said of Polish-brokered South Korean weapons sales, citing problems the combined operation may encounter. Six massive robots and 150 people at Hanwha Aerospace’s southern Korean facility are making 47-ton K9s for Poland. The self-propelled guns use NATO-standard 155mm ammunition, feature computerized fire-control systems, connect to command and control networks, and perform like more expensive Western options. Australian and Indian powers run them.

During a recent tour, production manager Cha Yong-su stated the company would hire 50 staff and more production lines to satisfy demand. He added robots perform 70% of K9 welding and increase capacity. They work eight hours a day but might work 24/7.

“We can fulfill any order,” Cha stated.

Polish authorities said South Korea’s pledge to send weapons faster than most was crucial. After the accords were signed, Poland received 10 K2s and 24 K9s in December, followed by five more tanks and 12 howitzers.

Oskar Pietrewicz, the senior analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, said Germany, another major arms manufacturer, has yet to deliver any of the 44 Leopard tanks Hungary purchased in 2018.

“Countries’ interest in South Korea’s offer may only grow considering the limited production capacity of Germany’s defence industry, which is a major arms supplier in the region,” he said.

South Korean arms industry executives said that will attract clients.
Officials said South Korea’s military and arms sector could restructure domestic orders to make way for export production and grow output in the country’s highly industrialized manufacturing base due to their strong ties. “They put things together in weeks or months that would take us years,” a European military industry executive said, speaking anonymously due to the delicacy of the topic.

Cho Woorae, global business and strategy vice president at Korea Aerospace Industries, said that constant tensions with North Korea keep the South’s military manufacturing lines going and its weapons produced, tested, and updated under pressure.

Kim Hyoung Cheol, DAPA deputy director, said Poland’s interest in South Korean weapons surged after Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine.

Kim claimed the massive purchase was finalized a month after the Polish defense minister visited South Korean weaponry in May 2022. Yoon Suk Yeol met with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the NATO summit in June 2022.

Another selling element is South Korea’s weapons’ compatibility with U.S. and NATO systems. According to SIPRI, the country supplies 4.9% of NATO’s armaments. The U.S. accounted for 65% and France 8.6%, far behind. Seoul officials told Reuters that they lobbied Poland to build South Korean weapons there to make European deliveries easier.

“The Korean government is promoting military diplomacy and defence cooperation so that the relationship with the purchasing country can develop into various partnerships beyond just a seller-buyer relationship,” South Korea’s Defense Ministry said.

Poland’s Ministry of National Defence did not comment. However, oh said Hanwha Aerospace has effective technology-sharing agreements in India, Egypt, and Turkey.

“Because of that, I don’t think there’s much to worry about regarding capacity,” he said.

South Korean businesses and Poland signed a framework agreement for the 2022 arms purchase. He added such corporations created consortiums with PGZ and its subsidiaries, which inked the final Polish government deal.

“We have the one entity only, one big consortium that is representing the whole project from the perspective of the industry,” Komorek said, adding that the agreement included multiple projects.

South Korea launched its first space rocket, flew its KFX fighter, and inked billions of dollars in deals this year.

“For most other countries, that would be an agenda for a decade,” a European defense executive told Reuters, speaking anonymously due to the delicacy of the topic. “We’ve long underestimated Korea.”

If Ukraine suffers a large-scale civilian strike, Yoon told Reuters last month that South Korea may provide more than humanitarian and economic relief.

Seoul has approved some South Korean weapons components for Ukraine.

Asia accounted for 63% of the country’s defense exports from 2018 to 2022, according to SIPRI, as security concerns and the U.S.-China rivalry drove regional arms buildups.

Polish leaders are interested in South Korea’s KFX fighter jet project with Indonesia. Malaysia acquired roughly $1 billion in FA-50s this year, while Seoul is competing to supply Australia’s next infantry combat vehicle for $12 billion.

“Asian countries see us as a very attractive partner for defence deals as we all seek to hedge against the rising tensions,” a Seoul ambassador said. “We’re an ally, but not the U.S.”