Poland broadens commercial defence channels with South Korea through sales of Warmate drones
The Warmate drone will be a feature of South Korea’s defence posture by the end of 2024. (Image: The WB Group)
The sale was welcomed by South Korea, which advocated ongoing mutual commercial support.
South Korea is set to buy up to 200 Polish Warmate drones from the WB Group. The sale had been rumoured for some time, but at Polish defence conference MSPO 2024, last week, WB Group chief operating officer Marcin Kubica confirmed the company’s intention to complete the sale and to begin supplying the drones by the end of 2024.
“You expressed your wish to have Warmate systems this year,” Kubica said. “On behalf of the WB Group, I would like to express a commitment: you will have Warmate systems in [South] Korea this year.”
Warmate drones are lightweight enough to be man-carried or easily transported, and they have been used as replacements for more cumbersome anti-tank missile systems, using a far larger operational radius. The hovering, self-destructing drones have seen action in the war between Ukraine and Russia, and it was that action which interested South Korea in acquiring them, despite a tangled international procurement process.
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South Korea is itself in the process of developing similar drone technology largely for its own use, and the deal with the Polish manufacturer has been seen as something of a trade-off, after Poland put in orders for South Korean weaponry, including the K9 self-propelled Howitzer and the K2 tank.
South Korea deputy minister of defence Maj. Gen. Il Sung acknowledged the WB Group’s assurances on the Warmate drones, and added that the relationship between the two nations’ defence products would hopefully lead to further commercial defence interaction.
“The [South] Korean defence industry was not planned as an exporter of our products,” he explained. “We can enter a higher level of cooperation. If something happens in [South] Korea, you can support us. When something happens in Europe, [South] Korea will be Poland's supplier.”
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