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scheduled to start in 2025. The Leopard 2A4, the South Korean main battle tank designed by the Agency for Defense
first operational tank of the Leopard 2 family, Development and manufactured by Hyundai Rotem, before picking
is in service with several countries including the Leopard 2. In February this year, the Norwegian military procure-
Singapore, Austria, Chile, Denmark, Finland, ment authority NDMA signed a contract to acquire 54 Leopard 2
Greece, Indonesia, Norway, Poland, Spain, MBTs. As per the deal, which also includes the option for an addi-
Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. In December tional 18 units, the tanks are scheduled for delivery from 2026 to 2028.
last year, Slovakia and the Czech Republic also
received the tank.
The K2, which recently entered its fourth batch of mass production
for the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army, caught global attention last
The UK, which completed delivery of 14 July when Poland, which sent its T-72 and PT-91 tanks to Ukraine,
Challenger 2 MBTs to Ukraine in April this year, signed a massive US$ 5.8 billion contract for 1,000 such tanks. South
is reviewing the planned conversion of the Korea, which will deliver 180 of the tanks to the Polish army, has
British Army’s Challenger 2 MBTs to Challenger already sent the first batch to the East European nation. Poland will
3s. The original plan, which was announced in produce 820 of them.
2021, involved upgrading 148 Challenger 2 tanks
to Challenger 3s and retiring the remaining 79 Indigenous Capabilities
tanks. The number is set to rise as the Army has
just 157 Challenger 2 MBTs available for oper- The project has been hit by delays, but Turkey is making progress on
ations even though it has a theoretical fleet of its Altay main battle tank project. Two Altay tanks were delivered to
227 vehicles. the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in April this year. The final trials of the
MBT are expected to be completed by the end of 2024. Turkish land
vehicle manufacturer BMC has integrated a South Korean engine
The Abrams MBT is in demand in Eastern Europe. into the vehicle, having signed agreements with South Korean firms
In April last year, Poland signed a deal worth Doosan Infracore and S&T Dynamics to deliver the tank engine
about US$4.75 billion to purchase 250 M1A2
Abrams SEPv3 tanks. This January, the coun-
try signed another contract, this one valued
at US$1.4 billion, to acquire 116 used M1A1
Abrams from the U.S. In May this year, Romania
announced its intention to purchase 54 used
M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 tanks for US%1.1 billion. The
tanks will replace some of the country’s ageing
MBTs from the Soviet era.

Lithuania, another country that considered
acquiring the Abrams, has instead opted for
Leopard 2 as its first ever MBT. The country,
which is planning to acquire 54 of the tanks,
had also considered the K2 Black Panther, the

12 | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2023 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/ADT