Defense equipment maker Hanwha Aerospace signed a 5.6 trillion won ($3.9 billion) deal Monday to export guided missiles for the Chunmoo multiple launch rocket system, bearing the hallmark of deeper defense ties between Korea and Poland.
The megadeal between Warsaw's Armament Agency and a joint venture of Hanwha Aerospace and Poland-based WB Electronics will manufacture Chunmoo CGR-080 rockets with 80 kilometers of range in Poland, which will then be delivered to Polish armed forces, according to Hanwha Aerospace on Tuesday. The supply will reportedly begin in 2030.
The latest "third executive contract" builds on a 5 trillion won export contract signed in November 2022 and a 2 trillion won deal in April 2024, aimed at supplying the Korean-made Chunmoo launchers and ammunition to Poland.
In the past few years, South Korea has emerged as Poland's key supplier of defense equipment, ranging from K2 tanks to K9 self-propelled howitzers, FA-50 light combat aircraft and Chunmoo rockets and launchers.
The company based in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, attributed the deal finalization to President Lee Jae Myung's chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik, who has also served as Lee's special envoy on strategic and economic ties with South Korea's major defense export destinations.
Kang told reporters upon his arrival at Incheon Airport on Tuesday that South Korea has announced over $10 billion worth of defense exports to Poland since Lee's inauguration in June. This amounts to two-thirds of all defense contracts signed with foreign countries throughout this year.
Engagement with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Canada and the United Arab Emirates will continue, in hopes of clinching more export deals and convincing his counterparts that South Korea is an optimal partner for defense, Kang added.
Kang's trip to Poland early this week followed one in October, when he asked Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz to complete the latest deal before the end of this year.
Also on Monday, Kang said on his Facebook that his diplomatic efforts with Warsaw over the past few months "bore fruit." It was the latest of "a series of good news in the Korean defense industry," as South Korea unveiled defense export deals in Estonia, Peru and Poland this year, he added.
Kang's engagement in the deal has allowed South Korean entities to maintain an edge over European competitors, despite the European Union's plan to establish 150 billion euros ($176.6 billion) of loan instruments called Security Action for Europe to stimulate defense procurement deals among member states across the European bloc, according to Hanwha Aerospace.
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