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| Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, right, shakes hands with his Polish counterpart, Mariusz Blaszczak, during their talks in Seoul, May 30. Yonhap |
By Kang Seung-woo
Poland's possible purchase of Korean military hardware seems to be closer to happening as its evaluation groups visited here for a closer look at the weapons.
Currently, Warsaw has interest in procuring Korea Aerospace Industries' (KAI) FA-50 light combat craft and Hyundai Rotem's K2 tank among others, as expressed by its Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, who also visited Korea one week earlier and toured local defense companies.
According to the defense industry, the Polish delegation made a closed-door visit to Korea for five days starting Monday, and toured the defense firms as well as military units operating the weapons in which the country is interested.
They toured Air Force and Army units operating the FA-50, the K-30 Biho self-propelled 30-milimeter anti-aircraft gun and the Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher. In addition, they also made a visit to defense companies, including Hanwha Systems and LIG Nex1, both of which have developed active electronically scanned array radar systems.
The delegation also visited Hanwha Defense, which developed the Chunmoo, and Hyundai Rotem.
The Central European country's potential procurement of Korean arms comes after Blaszczak hinted that his country may purchase Korean products to make up for the donation of its military hardware to Ukraine, currently at war with Russia.
Earlier, the Polish defense minister expressed the intent to buy 48 FA-50s, worth 2 trillion won ($1.58 billion), according to media reports, and the country's armament agency also said the aircraft was being considered as a platform for strengthening the Polish Air Force. Poland has already decided to hand off its MiG-29s to Ukraine.
FA-50s have already been exported to multiple countries, including Iraq and the Philippines.
Earlier this month, Blaszczak also hinted at purchasing K-2 tanks.
"We are developing the army and equipping it with the most modern equipment. We buy #ABRAMS tanks, but at the same time we are negotiating the purchase of Korean tanks. We want Korean tanks to be produced in Poland, and we want technology to be transferred," he tweeted.
In April, Poland signed an agreement with the United States to buy 250 Abrams tanks to deter potential Russian aggression on its border.
During a meeting between Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and Blaszczak, May 30, the two agreed to work together to strengthen practical defense industry cooperation, sharing the view that it would help enhance their common interests, according to Korea's Ministry of National Defense.
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