On 24 July the HDF received its first KF41 Lynx IFV produced in Hungary. (HDF/Gábor Kormány, Gergely Schöff)
The Hungarian Defence Forces (HDF) announced on its website on 24 July that it had received its first domestically produced KF41 Lynx infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) earlier the same day. The vehicle was produced at Rheinmetall's Zalaegerszeg factory in Hungary.
Rheinmetall said in a press release on 26 July that the first Lynx produced in Hungary was completed in December 2023 and was handed over to the HDF after receiving functional, performance, and quality acceptance.
A total of 209 Lynx vehicles will be supplied to the HDF under an August 2020 Hungarian Ministry of Defence contract worth EUR2 billion (USD2.2 billion). In addition to the IFV version, the HDF will receive command post, reconnaissance, joint fires observer, mortar carrier, and driver training variants. Rheinmetall said it is also developing a Lynx air-defence vehicle with a Skyranger turret under another contract.
The company is building the first 46 Lynx IFVs and command-and-control vehicles for Hungary in Germany. Hungary received its first Lynx, an IFV, for the HDF at Petőfi Sándor Barracks in Budapest on 15 October 2022 and is scheduled to receive all 46 German-built vehicles by the end of 2025.
Opened at the ZalaZone industrial complex in August 2023, the Zalaegerszeg site occupies 380,000 m2, including a main building with a usable area of 24,000 m2, and has 220 employees. It includes a testing centre and a firing tunnel.
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