The Romanian Ministry of National Defence plans to place an order to purchase South Korean K2 Black Panther tanks.

The South Korean publication MBC News reported on this.

According to the publication, the Romanian Ministry of National Defence plans to purchase 300 to 500 K2 Black Panther main battle tanks.

The K2 Black Panther tanks are to be purchased as part of the Romanian Armed Forces modernization program, which runs until 2040 and aims to purchase the latest weapons, aircraft, and ships.

The K2 will be purchased in addition to the 54 M1A2 SEP v3 tanks that Romania plans to order to strengthen its armored forces.

The Romanian Ministry of National Defence is interested in purchasing K2 tanks because the South Korean company Hanwha offers favorable conditions for their purchase by Romania.

The company also seeks to cooperate closely with the Romanian defense industry, which could potentially be involved in the production of certain components for K2 tanks.

In 2022, the Romanian Ministry of National Defence signed a defense cooperation agreement with Hyundai Rotem (now Hanwha), which paved the way for the potential purchase of tanks of this type, as well as for the Romanian defense industry to participate in the creation of a separate modernization.

In addition, in 2024, the company conducted demonstration tests of the K2 tank, which, according to the Romanian military, were very successful and fully interested Romania in their purchase.

An additional interest is the investment that the Hanwha company will make in the Romanian defense industry, which, according to some sources, will be able to assemble tanks of this type. Additional investments will also be made in the Romanian railroad, which currently does not have the capacity to transport military equipment weighing more than 50 tons.

Romania and South Korea have started very close cooperation, aimed at Romania’s purchase of a large amount of South Korean-designed equipment, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery systems, and aircraft.

Militarnyi previously reported that the Romanian Ministry of National Defence signed a contract for the purchase of South Korean K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers.