The Polish government has signed a contract on October 19, 2022 with Hanwha Defence Corporation of the Republic of Korea for the procurement of the K239 Chunbu Multiple Launch Rocket System.
The contract calls for the delivery of the first 18 systems with ammunition in 2023, for a total of 288 systems covered by the agreement. The Polish system will use the JELCZ truck chassis from the Polish Armaments Group and integrate WB Electronics’ TOPAZ fire control as well as local communications and battle management systems. Domestic participation with PGZ is facilitated by an existing collaboration with the earlier purchase of the Hanwha K9 tracked chassis for the Polish Krab self-propelled howitzer equipped with the British AS-90M Braveheart turret.
Chunmoo is a vehicle-mounted rocket launch system developed by Hanhua for the South Korean military to replace the K136 rocket launcher that was put into use in 1981. The K239 is capable of launching a number of different guided and free-flying rockets. These include the unguided 131mm K33 with a range of 36km (22 miles) and the KM26A2 230mm with a range of 45km (28 miles) (also available from US HIMARS). It also accepts a 239mm GPS/INS-guided rocket that can travel up to 80 km (50 miles), providing a high-explosive dual-function shock or delayed bunker destruction and a small bomb warhead.
This multiple rocket launcher contract may replace Poland’s consideration of US HIMARS. It also follows Poland’s commitment made in August 2022 to significantly boost cooperation with South Korea. Poland has acquired more than 200 K9PL self-propelled 155mm howitzers from Hanwha, and its K9A1 Thunder and 180 K2PL main battle tanks are variants of South Korea’s main battle tank K2 Panther. According to Lee Boo-Hwan, head of Hanwha’s overseas business unit, the first batch of 24 K9PL howitzers and 10 K2PL tanks rolled off the assembly line from Hanwha’s production base on October 19 and shipped to Poland.
Stephen W. Miller
