Poland could acquire South Korean K239 Chunmoo rocket launcher systems

Defense News September 2022 Global Security army industry
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According to information published by the Polish "Defence24" website on August 27, 2022, during an interview, the Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak announced that Poland could acquire South Korean K239 Chunmoo rocket launcher systems.
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South Korean army K239 Chunmoo MLRS Multiple Launch Rocket System. (Picture source Army Recognition)

Poland continues to increase its relationship with South Korea in terms of defense products acquisition, on August 28, 2022, the Army Recognition editorial team reported that Poland signed contracts with South Korea to acquire 180 K2 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) as well as 600 K9 155mm self-propelled howitzers.

Due to the situation in Ukraine, Poland has launched a plan to strengthen its armed forces. Defense minister Mariusz Błaszczak has declared that Poland will have “the most powerful land forces in Europe” thanks to ongoing investments by the government, which recently raised the defense budget to 3% of GDP, one of the highest levels in NATO and aims to further increase it to 5%.

According to open source information, currently, the Polish army has a total of 179 MLRSs (Multiple Launch Rocket Systems) including 75 Soviet-made BM-21, 29 Czech-made RM-70, and 75 local-made WR-40 Langusta.

On May 27, 2022, the Army Recognition editorial team reported that Poland signed a Letter of Request (LOR) with the United States for the acquisition of 500 M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) with the goal to strengthen the artillery capabilities of the Polish Army.

The Chunmoo also called K239 K-MLRS is a multi-caliber launch rocket system designed and manufactured by the South Korean Company Hanwha Corporation. It is a new generation of artillery weapons able to fire different calibers of rockets.

The Chunmoo K-MLRS carries two launch pods able to fire different calibers of rockets. It can fire 130 mm non-guided rockets (20 rockets to each pod), 227mm non-guided rockets (6 rockets to each pod), and 239mm guided rockets (6 rockets to each pod). The 130mm rockets have a range of 36 Km while the larger 230mm-class rockets have a range of about 80 Km for the non-guided one and 160 Km for the guided variant.