Kongsberg to arm Polish K2 tanks with remote weapon stations

Norway’s Kongsberg will arm Poland’s new K2 tanks and their support vehicles with its PROTECTOR RS4 remote weapon stations. The contract, worth about NOK 700 million ($75 million), was signed with South Korean tank maker Hyundai Rotem. The stations will go on three versions of the K2 built for the Polish Armed Forces: the main battle tank itself, the K2 armored recovery vehicle and the K2 combat engineering vehicle. Kongsberg will begin shipping the first stations to Hyundai Rotem for vehicle integration in spring 2027. The deal also includes a support package covering initial spare parts, training for Polish crews and other services needed to keep the systems running once the vehicles enter service. A remote weapon station lets a crew fire a roof-mounted machine gun or automatic grenade launcher from inside the armor, using a joystick and a screen fed by day and thermal cameras, so no one has to stand exposed in an open hatch to engage a target. The RS4 can carry a 12.7 mm (.50-caliber) heavy machine gun, a 7.62 mm or 5.56 mm machine gun, or a 40 mm grenade launcher. Its stabilized mount lets the gunner shoot accurately while the vehicle is moving. Kongsberg has delivered more than 20,000 PROTECTOR stations to armies around the world, and the U.S. Army’s Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station, known as CROWS, belongs to the same family. “This contract further strengthens the long-standing cooperation between KONGSBERG and Hyundai Rotem Company and confirms KONGSBERG’s position as a leading supplier of advanced remote weapon systems for international defence programmes,” said Kjetil Reiten Myhra, president of Kongsberg’s Defence Systems division. The order is tied to the second executive contract Poland signed with Hyundai Rotem in August 2025, a deal worth about $6.5 billion that covers 180 more K2 tanks and 81 support vehicles built on the K2 chassis. Under that agreement, 116 tanks in the K2GF configuration are being delivered in 2026 and 2027, and the first 28 of them reached Poland in August for the 16th Mechanized Division. The remaining 64 tanks will be built to the upgraded K2PL standard, which adds an active protection system and an anti-drone system. Sixty-one of them will be assembled at the Bumar-Łabędy plant in Gliwice between 2028 and 2030. The 81 support vehicles, due between 2029 and 2031, are 31 armored recovery vehicles, 25 combat engineering vehicles and 25 armored bridge layers. Kongsberg’s contract names the recovery and engineering versions but not the bridge layer. The recovery vehicles tow damaged tanks off the battlefield, and the engineering vehicles clear obstacles and minefields under fire. The RS4 stations will let their crews defend themselves without leaving the protection of the hull. Kongsberg and Hyundai Rotem first agreed to work together on remote weapon stations and unmanned turrets in September 2022. That was shortly after Poland placed its first order for 180 K2GF tanks, which was completed in November 2025. Poland already buys heavily from both companies, fielding hundreds of South Korean K2 tanks alongside Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile in its coastal missile units. The first RS4 stations are due at Hyundai Rotem in spring 2027. K2PL tank deliveries begin in 2028, and support vehicle deliveries start in 2029.