Poland’s howitzer spree concludes with $2.5 billion Krab buy at home

WARSAW, Poland — Days after signing a major deal to purchase South Korean howitzers, Poland’s outgoing defense minister, Mariusz Błaszczak, has inked a contract to buy 152 Krab self-propelled howitzers from the country’s state-owned defense group PGZ in a deal worth about 10 billion zloty ($2.49 billion).

The 155mm artillery pieces will be supplied with accompanying vehicles, gear, as well as a training and logistics package, the ministry’s armament agency said in a statement.

The agency did not disclose the weapons’ delivery schedule, as the deal “represents the beginning of a multi-stage contracting process of further howitzers.”

On Dec. 4, Warsaw ordered six K9A1 and 146 K9PL howitzers from South Korea’s Hanwha Defense, concluding a deal with net value of some $2.6 billion.

Poland’s opposition parties won the country’s general election in October. Some politicians from the parties readying to form a new Cabinet later this month have criticized the defense ministry’s South Korean purchase, stating the order could be detrimental to the domestic manufacturing of the Krab. To produce the Krab’s chassis, PGZ’s subsidiary Huta Stalowa Wola bought a license from Hanwha Defense to obtain the technology used in the chassis of the company’s K9 Thunder howitzer.

On Dec. 7, Paweł Bejda, a lawmaker for the Polish People’s Party, one of the forces set to oust the ruling Law and Justice party, criticized the outgoing defense minister. “Błaszczak says, ‘The Polish defense industry is always the fist choice.’ But several days earlier, the same man, instead of ordering Krab howitzers from Huta Stalowa Wola, sent a further 13 billion zloty of Polish taxpayers’ money to South Korea for K9 howitzers,” Bejda said in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Błaszczak’s remarks today could be considered as his defense of the Dec. 4 contract.

“In order not to waste time, we also cooperate with foreign suppliers” he said. “Cooperation with the Republic of Korea is also beneficial for the Polish defense industry. I am convinced that, in some years to come, a new version of the howitzer will be a joint Polish-Korean howitzer,” Błaszczak said, as quoted in a statement released by his ministry.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——就在签署购买韩国榴弹炮的大宗交易几天后，即将卸任的波兰国防部长马里乌什·布瓦什恰克又与该国国有国防集团PGZ签署了一份合同，以约100亿兹罗提（24.9亿美元）的价格购买152门“螃蟹”自行榴弹炮。

该部军备局在一份声明中表示，这批155毫米火炮将配备配套车辆、装备以及培训和后勤保障方案。

该机构没有透露武器交付时间表，因为该交易“标志着进一步采购榴弹炮的多阶段合同流程的开始”。

12 月 4 日，华沙向韩国韩华防务公司订购了 6 门 K9A1 和 146 门 K9PL 榴弹炮，达成了一项净值约 26 亿美元的交易。

波兰反对党在10月份的大选中获胜。一些即将于本月晚些时候组建新内阁的政党成员批评国防部从韩国采购“蟹式”自行榴弹炮，称此举可能损害波兰国内“蟹式”自行榴弹炮的生产。为了生产“蟹式”自行榴弹炮的底盘，波兰国防集团（PGZ）的子公司Huta Stalowa Wola从韩华防务公司购买了许可证，获得了该公司K9“雷霆”自行榴弹炮底盘所使用的技术。

12月7日，波兰人民党议员帕维尔·贝达（Paweł Bejda）批评了即将卸任的国防部长。波兰人民党是旨在推翻执政的法律与公正党的势力之一。贝达在社交媒体平台X（原名Twitter）上发帖称：“布瓦什恰克（Błaszczak）说，‘波兰国防工业永远是首选。’但就在几天前，这个人没有向胡塔斯塔洛瓦沃拉（Huta Stalowa Wola）订购克拉布（Krab）榴弹炮，反而将波兰纳税人的130亿兹罗提转给了韩国，用于购买K9榴弹炮。”

布拉什恰克今天的言论可以被视为他对12月4日合同的辩护。

“为了不浪费时间，我们也与外国供应商合作，”他说道。“与韩国的合作也有利于波兰国防工业的发展。我相信，在未来几年内，新型榴弹炮将是波兰和韩国联合研制的榴弹炮，”布瓦什恰克在其部门发布的一份声明中表示。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。