South Korea's K2 tank operated by the Polish Army. Yonhap News

Poland will possess more tanks than Germany, France, Italy, and the UK combined by 2030 due to its purchase of South Korean K2 tanks, Euronews reported on the 2nd (local time).

The previous day, Poland and South Korea signed a second supply contract for K2 tanks worth approximately $6.5 billion (about 9.1 trillion won) in the presence of the defense ministers of both countries. The second contract involves the delivery of 180 K2 tanks to the Polish Army between 2026 and 2030, with 64 of them to be produced locally.

If this contract is executed as planned by 2030, Poland's main battle tank inventory will increase to 1,100 units, the outlet explained.

This significantly surpasses the combined 950 units held by four major European NATO countries: Germany, the UK, France, and Italy.

Furthermore, among all NATO member states, it will be the third-largest after Turkey (2,238 units) and Greece (1,344 units).

The outlet interpreted Poland's second purchase contract as an extension of its efforts to accelerate military build-up, driven by the border conflict with Belarus in 2021 and the war in Ukraine in 2022.

Poland, located on NATO's eastern front line, has this year's defense spending at 4.7% of its gross domestic product (GDP), ranking first among NATO member states.

It is also expected to be the first to achieve the defense spending target of '5% of GDP' agreed upon at the NATO summit in The Hague in June.

Yonhap News