New Rockets, Howitzers And Tanks Arrive In Poland

The Polish Army has just taken delivery of new tanks, self-propelled howitzers and rocket launchers.

As per recent news reports the new kit arrived by ship at the port of Gdynia, which lies just north of Gdansk, last week. On board were believed to be a dozen K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers, five Black Panther tanks, and 12 K239 Chunmoo rocket artillery systems.

The Hanwha Aerospace K239s are the modern WWR Homar-K variant, mounted on a Jelcz chassis. They use the TOPAZ Integrated Combat Management System and are armed with a South Korean 239mm CGR-080 guided rocket produced in Poland under licence.

They can also fire CTM-290 (Chunmoo Tactical Missile) tactical ballistic missiles, which have a range of about 180 miles. Adaptations to fire Polish 122mm M-21 Feniks unguided rockets are reported to be ongoing.

The K9 Thunder howitzers are part of a deal struck with Hanwha Aerospace back in August 2022; 96 such systems are now believed to have been delivered in total, including 30 this year alone; according to reports a further 40 units are due by the end of the year as part of the $2.4 billion deal.

The Black Panther Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) are produced by Hyundai Rotem; in 2022 it signed a $3.3 billion deal with the Polish government to deliver 180 MBTs by 2025. The latest consignment means so far 56 tanks have been supplied.