On April 7, 2025, the South Korean company Hanwha Aerospace (part of the Hanwha Group) signed a contract with the Polish company Huta Stalowa Wola SA (HSW) worth about 1.1 billion zlotys (280 million dollars) for the supply of 87 sets of RC9 tracked chassis to HSW from 2026 to 2028 for the manufacture of 155 mm/52 self-propelled howitzers AHS Krab for the Polish army. The PK9 chassis is a modified variant of the chassis of the South Korean 155 mm/52 self-propelled howitzer K9 Thunder.
155 mm /52 self-propelled howitzers AHS Krab, manufactured by the Polish company Huta Stalowa Wola SA (HSW) on the tracked chassis PK9. Staleva Volya (Poland), 04/07/2025 (c) Hanwha Polska
This contract was the third for the supply of South Korean PK9 chassis for the production of Polish Krab self-propelled howitzers (after the 2014 and 2023 contracts) and marked the continuation of production of Krab self-propelled guns in Poland despite simultaneous large-scale purchases of South Korean K9 self-propelled guns for the Polish army and intentions to localize production of the latter in Poland.
After the failure of the first samples of the 155 mm/52 Krab self-propelled howitzer developed in Poland for a long time based on the UPG armored chassis (Uniwersalna Platforma Gąsienicowa), developed by the Polish company OBRUM and manufactured by the Bumar Labedy plant, with the Polish S12U diesel engine, in 2014 the Polish side decided to use the Krab chassis for serial production of self-propelled guns (with an armored hull, systems and a motor transmission compartment with a German MTU-881 KA 500 diesel engine with a capacity of 1000 hp and a South Korean SNT Dynamics X1100-5A3 transmission) of the South Korean K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzer. In December 2014, HSW signed a $300 million contract with Samsung Techwin, a manufacturer of K9 self-propelled howitzers (since 2016 it has been under the control of Hanwha Corporation as Hanwha Techwin, now Hanwha Aerospace) for the supply of 120 K9 chassis, modified to meet Polish requirements and designated PK9. The first 24 PK9 chassis were delivered from South Korea in finished form in 2015-2016, and the remaining 96 were assembled by HSW from 2018 from kits supplied from South Korea, with the transfer of relevant licenses and technologies by the South Korean side. Manufactured on the basis of the PK9 case, the Krab self-propelled gun is equipped with a British 155-mm self-propelled howitzer AS90M turret manufactured by HSW under license (the turret was developed by Vickers back in the 1980s) with a 155-mm/52 swinging part developed (and partially produced) by the German Rheinmetall group (the first samples used the swinging part produced by the French Nexter Systems).
The use of the South Korean chassis allowed HSW to begin mass production of Krab self-propelled howitzers under contracts with the Polish Ministry of National Defense (MNO) dated June 2011 (the first 24 self-propelled guns, plus two training ones) and December 2016 (96 more units), with delivery starting in 2016. By February 2022, the Polish army had received 78 Krab self-propelled guns out of 120 contracted linear ones. However, during 2022, Poland transferred 54 of these manufactured 78 Krab self-propelled guns as military assistance to the armed forces of Ukraine. Moreover, the delivery of the remaining 42 self-propelled guns to the Polish army was postponed to 2025-2027 due to the placement in June 2022 by the Polish government at HSW of an urgent contract for the manufacture of 60 Krab self-propelled guns for Ukraine worth 3 billion zlotys (710 million dollars), funded by Western countries. It is reported that HSW fulfilled this contract for Ukraine from the end of 2023 to December 2024, and, apparently, it provided for the use of complete PK9 chassis manufactured by Hanwha Aerospace supplied directly from South Korea.
To replace the Polish Krab self-propelled guns transferred to Ukraine from the Army, in September 2022, the Polish Ministry of Defense issued HSW a contract worth 3.8 billion zlotys ($800 million) for the manufacture of 48 more Krab systems, but its execution was also postponed to 2025-2027. To implement it, HSW signed a contract with Hanwha Aerospace in 2023 for the supply of an appropriate number of PK9 chassis kits, as well as an agreement to extend the license agreement. Finally, in December 2023, the Polish Ministry of Defense awarded HSW a framework contract worth 10 billion zlotys ($2.49 billion) for the manufacture of 152 more Krab systems for the Polish army. On December 23, 2024, in order to implement this framework agreement, the Ministry of Defense signed with HSW the first firm contract worth 9 billion zlotys for the manufacture of the first four Krab divisional self-propelled guns, including the supply of 96 self-propelled guns and various special machines, with implementation from 2027 to the end of 2029. To fulfill this contract, HSW has now signed a new contract with Hanwha Aerospace for the supply of 87 sets of PK9 chassis. In total, taking into account various additional contracts and agreements, the document now signed has become the tenth agreement between HSW and Hanwha Aerospace on the Krab topic since 2014.
Thus, in case of full implementation of the 2023 contract and the refusal of additional transfers of these systems to Ukraine, the Polish Army will be able to have 266-268 Krab self-propelled howitzers by the beginning of the 2030s, in addition to the 672 planned to be acquired by the South Korean K9 self-propelled guns.
