Between 2023 and 2025 Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft mbH (FFG) will deliver 5 WiSENT 2 armoured recovery vehicles, as well as engineer tank kits in 40-foot containers and demining kits in 20-foot containers, to Hungary. In addition spare parts, special tools and testing equipment will be supplied. Technical documentation for the WiSENT 2 training for future operators and maintenance personnel complete the service package.
This makes Hungary the third NATO state, alongside Canada (18 WiSENT 2) and Norway (12 WiSENT 2), to introduce FFG’s vehicle into its armed forces. Other user nations are the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. With this new order, the total number of WiSENT 2 ehicles will increase to 45 since 2015.
The armoured recovery vehicles are part of a major armoured vehicle order which Hungary has signed with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) in 2018. In addition to the armoured recovery vehicles, the contract worth €565 million includes 44 newly manufactured Leopard 2A7+ main battle tanks and 24 newly manufactured PzH2000 armoured howitzers as well as 12 used Leopard 2 A4 for training purposes.
The armoured engineer vehicle kits supplied with the WiSENT 2 enable the troops to convert the armoured recovery vehicle into a fully-fledged armoured engineer vehicle within short time.
Gerhard Heiming
