Poland signs deal to produce South Korean missiles domestically

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland, in cooperation with South Korean partners, will for the first time produce guided missiles domestically under a deal worth around 14 billion zloty (€3.3 billion).

Under the agreement, signed between the state treasury and a consortium made up of Poland’s WB Electronics and South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace, Poland will manufacture more than 10,000 CGR-080 precision-guided missiles.

They are used by the K239 Chunmoo rocket artillery systems, hundreds of which Poland has purchased from South Korea, with their Polish variant known as Homar-K. The missiles, which have a range of 80 kilometres, are due to be delivered to the Polish armed forces between 2030 and 2033.

As part of the deal, a missile production facility will be built in the Polish city of Gorzów Wielkopolski and operated by Hanwha WB Advanced System, a joint venture between WB Electronics and Hanwha Aerospace.

The agreement, which provides for the transfer of missile production technology from South Korea to Poland, will help the Polish “defence industry acquire new capabilities”, declared the Polish defence ministry.

“For us, selecting the best suppliers is crucial, but equally important, and sometimes even more important, is that production takes place in Poland,” said defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz.

“We are talking about thousands of missiles and a contract worth billions of zlotys – this is an investment in our security and economy for many years to come,” he added.

The agreement was also welcomed by Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. He noted that, unlike two previous deals for Poland to purchase missiles, “this third Chunmoo contract is not simply about exporting weapons produced in Korea”.

“It is a model in which Korea and Poland establish a joint venture, build production facilities in Poland and manufacture the system together,” said Kang, quoted by The Korea Times. “Just as cooperation in political, economic and security fields has continued to deepen, cooperation in the defense industry has also moved to a higher stage.”

Poland ordered 288 Chunmoo rocket artillery launchers from South Korea in 2022, as Warsaw launched a huge defence procurement drive in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It also bought hundreds of Korean tanks, fighter planes and self-propelled howitzers.

Recent years have also seen Polish-Korean relations develop in other areas. This year, construction commenced in the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard of a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal ordered by Poland that will eventually be located in the Polish city of Gdańsk.

In November, South Korea’s government agency responsible for supporting the creation and distribution of creative content opened an office in Warsaw, which it says will act as a regional hub for promoting Korean cultural products and working with local creators.

And earlier this month, South Korean tyre manufacturer Kumho confirmed plans to establish a new plant in Poland, which will also be its first in Europe.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: MON/X

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.