KNDS and Hungarian company establish Leopard Hungary MRO

A Leopard 2A7HU MBT and crew of the HDF's 1st Armoured Brigade at the Hajmáskér firing and training range in January. (HDF/Tamás Kovács)

KNDS Deutschland and Hungarian company Currus have established the 49:51 joint venture Leopard Hungary MRO (Maintenance, Repair, Operations), the German company and the Hungarian Defence Forces (HDF) have announced. The company is based in Gödöllő, Hungary, where Currus is located.

KNDS said in a press release on 21 February that the joint venture will provide long-term logistic support to all the company's 90 systems being procured for the HDF. These include Leopard 2 main battle tanks (MBTs), Panzerhaubitze (PzH) 2000 self-propelled howitzers (SPHs), Wisent 2 armoured recovery vehicles, and Leguan armoured vehicle launched bridges. In addition, Leopard Hungary MRO will be responsible for the maintenance of the systems' simulation and training facilities.

The HDF website cited Márton Kertész, the Hungarian co-managing director of Leopard Hungary MRO, telling Hungarian state news agency MTI on 20 February that the procurement of the KNDS systems included two years of service by German specialists, after which their Hungarian counterparts from Currus will gradually take over after receiving training. The Hungarian specialists will perform MRO for the HDF's György Klapka 1st Armoured Brigade at Tata and at Currus facility in Gödöllő. Kertész said this would ensure the strategically important, up-to-date, uninterrupted, long-term maintenance of the KNDS systems and their deployability.

For more information on the Hungarian procurement of German systems, please seeUpdate: Hungary receives first Leopard 2 tanks, more H145M helicopters .