Putin beordrar styrkor att gå in i Ukraina - INVASION NU (2022-02-24)

Last year, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stated publicly a goal of one day being among the world’s top four weapons suppliers, behind the US, Russia and France. It was an ambitious goal, to be sure, but one that doesn’t seem nearly as impossible as it would have even a few years ago, thanks to a series of major deals inked by Seoul and its domestic arms industries.
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Demonstrating the speed at which manufacturers can deliver, the first 10 K2 tanks and 24 K9s were unloaded onto Polish docks last December, just four months after contract signature. So far, Hanwha has delivered 48 K9A1s to Poland, and another batch of 18 left Changwon on Oct. 23. Similarly, the first FA-50 aircraft reached Poland within ten months of a contract being signed in September 2022.
Such alacrity is rare for American or European OEMs, but South Korea can deliver swiftly because of a symbiotic relationship between government and arms companies, where domestic deliveries can be rearranged to meet export orders. South Korean officials have, at least so far, been willing to postpone intake of their own weapons in order to encourage weapon sales abroad.