Poland took delivery of 28 K2 Black Panther main battle tanks on 25 August 2026, the first batch under the second contract signed with Hyundai Rotem. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence announced the arrival with a photograph of a hull being lifted from a ship at a Polish port, stating that the tanks will bolster the 16th Mechanized Division.
The vehicles are the opening tranche of a follow-on order that took effect on 1 August 2025 and covers 180 tanks. According to Calibre Defence, citing Defence24, the order splits into 116 K2GF tanks built on Hyundai Rotem's South Korean production line and 64 K2PL, the Polish-specific variant, which is not expected to be delivered before 2028. The package also includes 31 recovery vehicles, 25 engineering vehicles and 25 bridging systems, plus logistics, servicing and training support, according to Bumar-Labedy, the PGZ subsidiary that will eventually manufacture the K2PL.
The second contract follows the first, signed in August 2022 for 180 base-model K2s. The first ten of those arrived in December 2022, and the last were handed over in November 2025. With both firm orders, Poland has 360 K2 tanks under contract; the 2022 framework agreement foresees up to 1,000, of which 820 would be K2PLs, but only the two 180-tank batches have been placed as firm orders.
The K2 is one of three modern types Poland is fielding to replace its Soviet-era T-72 and the derivative PT-91 Twardy, many of which were transferred to Ukraine after 2022. GlobalMilitary.net inventory data for the Polish Land Forces lists 827 main battle tanks in service: 180 K2, 262 M1 Abrams in M1A1 FEP and M1A2 SEPv3 configuration, 233 Leopard 2 in the 2A4, 2A5 and 2PL standards, and 152 PT-91. That total places Poland 23rd in the ranking of the world's largest tank fleets, third in Europe behind Greece and Ukraine, and ahead of Germany, the United Kingdom and France combined, which together field around 800 tanks.
Calibre Defence estimates that once the current orders are complete, the Polish Army will operate 895 modern tanks across the M1A2, K2 and Leopard 2A5, making it one of the largest armoured forces on the continent. A further 104 Abrams are still on order alongside the outstanding K2s.
Deliveries of the South Korean-built K2GF are due to continue over the coming years, while the K2PL line at Bumar-Labedy in Gliwice remains the programme's next industrial milestone. Calibre Defence notes that the pace of that domestic expansion, rather than the supply of tanks from Korea, is where the risk to the schedule now lies.
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