On June 15, during Eurosatory 2026, South Korean company Hyundai Rotem signed an agreement with Germany’s FFG Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft mbH (FFG), bringing the German expert onboard the programme to deliver new supporting variants based on the K2PL tank base for Poland.
As Poland onshores the production of Hyundai Rotem’s K2 BLACK PANTHER MBT for its own needs and matures the national “PL” variant, the acquisition of supporting variants is also planned to begin. On August 1, 2025, Poland signed the second Executive Agreement relating to the K2, clearing the procurement of 180 tanks, of which 116 still in the “GF” South Korean form, for delivery between 2026 and 2027, and 64 in the new “PL” national, advanced form. Of these, 61 are to be assembled directly in Poland.
Importantly, the same agreement also covers 81 support vehicles in 3 variants: 31 K2PL ARV (armoured recovery vehicle); 25 K2PL CEV (Combat Engineering vehicle) breachers and 25 K2PL LBV (Launched Bridge Vehicle) bridge-layers. All of these specialized variants are to be developed in Poland and 72 of them are also due to be assembled locally. The polish firm responsible for the production is Bumar-Labedy, while Wojskowe Zaklady Elektroniczne (WZE) and PCO will supply subsystems such as inertial navigation and driver camera systems.
This all comes under the overarching umbrella of the huge framework agreement covering a total of up to 1,000 K2 tanks for Poland. Before the 2025 order, Poland had ordered a first 180-tanks lot in 2022. All of those came directly from South Korea, with deliveries wrapping up by November 2025.
Under the teaming agreement, the ARV recovery variant will be developed by mating the K2PL mechanical base with the specialist equipment package coming from FFG. This will be directly derived from FFG’s WISENT 2 ARV (Leopard 2 hull, pictured), in particular through adoption of the same hydraulic systems and components such as the 40-tonne main winch, auxiliary winch, 32-tonne hydraulic crane, dozer blade and CRS (Combat Recovery System) towing system.
Zaklady Mechaniczne Bumar-Labedy is expected to deliver the ARVs beginning in 2029, with order conclusion in 2031. For FFG this is a precious success, considering that in Germany they have instead suffered a setback with the Bundeswehr selecting’s Rheinmetall’s own BUFFEL 3 recovery vehicles for a 23-vehicle order (replacement for ARVs supplied to Ukraine). FFG had openly criticized the selection of Rheinmetall’s entry, going public with a letter in June 2025 which claimed the BUFFEL 3 option was both more expensive and slower to reach delivery.
It is understood, however, that the contract now signed by Germany with Rheinmetall has a value of €360 million with deliveries beginning in 2028. If confirmed, these figures imply that the accusations formulated by FFG in its June 2025 letter were based on wrong data as it claimed the Rheinmetall’s ARVs wouldn’t be available before 5 years and would cost €20 million apiece.
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