Now, the international situation has become increasingly tense. Coupled with the impact of the epidemic, the economy of the whole world has become worse, and many hot spots are even more tense, and there is a tendency to start a war again with a disagreement.
Of course, some people are injured, and many people are benefiting. And what was unexpected was that South Korea, which was far away in East Asia and had nothing to do with the war with Russia and Ukraine, became a beneficiary country, and even the largest beneficiary countries.
Because of the tension in the Russian-Ukraine war, Polish , which directly borders Ukraine and has always been feuding with Russia, has also become nervous. In order to enhance its abilities, of course, it was also the idea of taking advantage of the chaos. Poland decided to vigorously arm its army and military.
However, Poland's own military industry has certain shortcomings, so Poland turned to foreign countries for help. Poland's final decision was almost unexpected to everyone: a few days ago, Poland and South Korea reached an arms sales agreement with a total amount of up to US$14.5 billion:
South Korea sold 980 K2 main battle tanks , 48 SA-50 fighter jets, and K9 self-propelled howitzers ,648 to Poland.
Of course, such arms sales have never been a one-time transaction. This arms sales not only include the sale of weapons and equipment, but also include a series of contents such as the production, maintenance, training, and technology transfer of these weapons and equipment.
It can be said that this unprecedented super arms sales order not only shocked the world, but also made South Korea, an East Asian country that seemed to have never made achievements in military affairs, become the world's fourth largest military trade exporter.
This also means that as of now, South Korea, whose total foreign arms sales exceeded US$20 billion in 2022, has surpassed China.
probably also greatly inspired Koreans because of this unprecedented big order. Therefore, South Korean President Yoon Seo-yeol clearly pointed out in a speech: South Korea's military industry should be supported as a pillar industry, and South Korea should be built into a "strategic industrialization and defense industrialization power."
Let’s not talk about the vigorous ambitions and grand plans of the South Korean president. To be honest, South Korea's military trade has indeed developed very rapidly in recent years. Before the signing of this super-large order with a total amount of up to US$14.5 billion, South Korea's weapons export business was already doing well.
For example, this time, K9 self-propelled artillery, which was exported to Poland at one time, has become the trump card product for South Korea's military trade exports before this. Before
signed an order with Poland, countries such as Turkey, Poland, Finland , Estonia , Norway, India, Australia, Egypt and other countries have purchased South Korea's K9 self-propelled artillery and its supporting ammunition. The total number of K9 in South Korea's military sales has reached 1,754 units.
Moreover, K9 is still selling well today. For example, not long ago, after the Minister of Defense visited South Korea, the Minister of Defense signed an agreement and letter of intent with South Korea, and had the intention to buy K9 howitzers. Due to the huge export volume, K9 and its supporting ammunition are now appearing on the battlefields of Russia and Ukraine.
. In addition to 48 purchased by Poland, FA-50 Golden Eagle Light Fighter, which also appeared in the big order, before that, 12 purchased Philippine .
It can be said that with the continuous development of South Korea's technology and economy, South Korea's weapons and equipment exports have also been booming, and even emerged as a rising star in the world's arms export market for a very short period of time.
is located in South Korea, which is the "East Asian Monster House" and is one of the five East Asian countries. Due to the small land area, scarce domestic resources and not much population, South Korea's geopolitics in East Asia is actually quite bad.
Moreover, due to historical problems, there are still a large number of US troops stationed in South Korea today, and South Korea does not even have the command of its own army. In other words, today's South Korea cannot even be called a completely independent country.
As we all know, arms trade has never been a simple business of buying high and selling low.Whether it is exporting or purchasing weapons and equipment, what a country values is not just the price and excellent performance. In many cases, these factors are not the most important reasons.
Due to the extreme sensitivity of arms, the purchase of weapons and equipment is actually a political leader in a sense. It is precisely because of this that you can see that in recent decades, the major exporters of world military trade have all been world-wide or regional powers, and their export targets are always their own camp or neutral and friendly countries.
2020 arms exporting country
. For countries that purchase weapons, many times, they spend huge amounts of money to purchase weapons and equipment of a certain country, not only to require advanced weapons and equipment, but more importantly, to pay protection fees and obtain protection from major countries.
In this regard, the most typical ones are Middle East countries. The reason why the Middle East oil-producing countries, which have made a fortune by making a fortune by oil, spend huge amounts of money to buy weapons from the United States every year is of course not because they have money to support it, but because they gain the protection and support of the United States through arms trade.
From this point of view, the military trade between South Korea and Poland is obviously a bit strange. Poland is thousands of miles away from South Korea. Although Poland's diplomatic environment is not very good now, it is still a member of NATO , and it is far from reaching the point where it requires South Korea's support and obtains South Korea's support through arms orders.
Poland is in Europe
Moreover, Poland is not a small country either. Although Poland has a bad reputation in the world due to many reasons such as iron-headed and magical choices.
However, Poland, with a population of nearly 40 million and 310,000 square kilometers, is a veritable major country in Europe. Its land area is only 50,000 square kilometers less than Germany, and it is even larger than that of old powers such as Italy and the United Kingdom, and three times that of South Korea.
plus Poland has a long industrial foundation than South Korea. Although Poland is not a top-notch European country, its strength cannot be underestimated.
Moreover, South Korea's weapons and equipment are not the most advanced. South Korea's industry is indeed not weak, but there is still a big gap compared to the old powers such as the United States, Germany, Britain, and France.
The most important thing is that South Korea's weapons and equipment have never been tested in actual combat, which is obviously a big loss in the export of weapons and equipment. You should know that the ultimate purpose of weapons and equipment is to be used on the battlefield, and the outcome of a war is directly to the safety and fundamental interests of a country and nation.
Korean
In this case, weapons and equipment that have never been tested on the battlefield are obviously full of huge uncertainties. Since the end of World War II and its artificially divided into 38th parallels, South Korea has never made any achievements in military affairs.
First, he was beaten by North Korea in the north after the outbreak of Korean War . Immediately after the United States sent troops, he was beaten by Chinese People's Volunteer Army .
After this, because of the protection of the United States, South Korea has always maintained a peaceful environment. Although the situation in South Korea and North Korea is tense, there is no large-scale conflict, and there is no room for South Korea's military and weapons and equipment to be used. Moreover, according to decades of verbal and border conflicts between North and South Korea, South Korea rarely gains the upper hand.
plus the current Korean army, and even the command power has not been completely taken back, it is really difficult for us to have enough confidence in South Korea's army and weapons and equipment.
If that is the case, why is Poland still willing to buy tens of billions of dollars of arms as South Korea, which is about the same size as it? What has South Korea surpassed China in 2022 and became the world's fourth largest weapon exporter?
is the first and most important thing. South Korea's arms export scope and market are actually much larger than China. Thanks to South Korea's relationship with its US allies, South Korea's weapons and equipment actually has far more potential customers worldwide than China.
Korea
Although South Korea's land area, population, and influence in the world are quite different from China. However, this does not mean that South Korea's weapons and equipment export range is narrower than China.
is exactly the opposite. Since it has always been a loyal little brother of the United States and an ally of the United States, so. The military trade markets of in Western countries have almost all been launched to South Korea.
Western countries now have a huge influence around the world, and therefore, to some extent, most countries in the world are potential customers of South Korea. Such a vast military trade export market naturally brings a greater choice for South Korea's weapons and equipment exports.
In this regard, China is obviously incomparable. The only market for China's arms exports is friendly countries with good relations with China, such as Pakistan , African countries, or neutral countries that are still acceptable to both China and Western countries, such as Egypt.
In fact, due to the influence of Western countries, including concerns such as concerns about US interference, a considerable number of countries in the world are unwilling or afraid to buy weapons from China. In this regard, South Korea's weapons exports obviously do not have this concern.
Second, South Korean weapons and equipment are not so developed by South Korea, but rather integrated by South Korea. South Korea's weapons and equipment, especially the K9 self-propelled artillery and FA-50 aircraft exported to the outside world, were not developed and produced by South Korea itself, but integrated and assembled by South Korea using mature subsystems from Western countries.
Therefore, South Korea's weapons and equipment are actually quite similar to automobile manufacturing. They are all purchased from the world and integrated with designs. The integration process certainly requires extremely high technical and industrial strength, but after all, many important and critical modules use mature products from self-developed countries, which greatly reduces the difficulty of research and development and production in South Korea.
For example, most of South Korea's aircraft engines and marine engines are purchased from the United States, while many technologies such as tank , submarine , artillery , etc. are purchased from Germany.
South Korea's aircraft is more like an assembled product: the avionics system was jointly developed with Israeli Elbit, the ejection seat was purchased from Martin Baker, the United Kingdom, the engine was purchased from General Electric in the United States, and even the design was technically consulted by Lockheed Martin.
Therefore, purchasing mature advanced technologies and components from Western countries, especially developed countries, not only greatly reduces the R&D and manufacturing costs of South Korea's weapons and equipment, but also, these technologies from developed countries have also become the highlight of South Korea's weapons and equipment exports to a large extent.
Because these mature technologies from developed countries and have been tested by the market are obviously very easy to gain the trust of customers. This further endorses the export of South Korea's weapons and equipment.
Third, although important parts of South Korea's weapons and equipment are purchased from Western countries, we must also admit that South Korea is actually very excellent in assembly and integration, which also means that the advanced level of South Korea's weapons and equipment is worthy of recognition.
For example, the main battle tank K2 developed and produced by South Korea in the 1990s has excellent data, and is at the upper and higher level even in the world, surpassing the main battle tanks of most countries.
The star product K9 self-propelled howitzer exported by South Korea has a maximum range of up to 42 kilometers and a maximum firing rate of 6 to 8 rounds per minute within three minutes. Moreover, it can also use NATO-style 155mm ammunition, and its comprehensive firepower performance even exceeds that of the US-made M-109a2 self-propelled howitzer, and its technical parameters are also quite excellent, which is why nearly 10 countries have purchased it.
k9
Fourth, South Korea's weapons and equipment are cost-effective. Take the big order signed between Poland and South Korea this time as an example. The total value of the K2 main battle tank purchased by Poland is US$2.3 billion and the number of tanks is 180, which means that the average main battle tank is US$12.77 million. The average unit price of the FA-50 Golden Eagle new fighter is $54.16 million, and the average price of the K9 self-propelled gun is $5.67 million per unit. Prices like
are much lower than the prices generally exported by Western countries, and are even only one-small of the same type of weapons exported by Western countries.Such a low price and excellent performance parameters, coupled with the endorsement of Western countries' technology, naturally attracts many cash-strapped buyers.
Of course, South Korea's weapons emerged and quickly became a rising star in the world arms trade market. In addition to South Korea's relatively advanced weapon equipment technology and a natural advantage of allies of Western countries, many modules of weapons and equipment were purchased from Western countries, with the advantages of technological advantages and high cost performance.
The industrial recession of Western countries such as the United States and European veteran powers is also an extremely important factor. In recent decades, Western countries have been deindustrializing in , especially heavy industries with low profit margins and severe pollution. The production capacity of Western countries has continued to decline.
Therefore, the severe recession of many heavy industries, including military industry, has caused Western countries to have advanced technology, but their actual manufacturing capabilities have begun to be far inferior to those before. The old European powers Britain and France even lost the ability to mass produce main battle tanks.
, and South Korea, which has always had extremely perfect chemical, machinery, steel, electronics, aviation and other industries, has always maintained a complete and strong military production capacity. In this way, when the weapons and equipment production capacity of Western countries dropped significantly, South Korea naturally replaced it and became a major player in world military trade.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-