Following the delivery of the first Leopard 2A7+HU main battle tanks (MBTs) to the Hungarian authorities in August 2023, the tanks were handed over to Hungarian Army units in mid-December 2023, Hungarian Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky has announced on X (formerly Twitter).
“The first Leopard 2A7 tanks with Hungarian flags have arrived and are strengthening our heavy brigade. This modern military equipment strengthens Hungary’s defence capabilities together with bridge-laying vehicles and technical rescue vehicles. We are protecting Hungary with a high-calibre fleet,” said Szalay-Bobrovniczky.
The MBTs are going to the 11th Armoured Battalion of the 1st György Klapka Armoured Brigade in Tata, 70 km northwest of Budapest, near the border with Slovakia.
Another three Leopard 2A7+HUs arrived in Tata on 11 January 2024, bringing the number of tanks delivered to eight. The remaining 36 tanks on order are to be delivered by 2025 in accordance with a contract signed in December 2018. Twenty-four PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers, five Wisent 2HU armoured engineering vehicles and three Leguan 2HU armoured vehicle-launched bridges ordered under the same contract are to be delivered by 2028.
Hungarian troops have prepared for the operation and deployment of the new MBTs by training on 12 Leopard 2A4HU tanks, which were delivered to Hungary from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann stocks in the summer of 2020.
The Leopard 2A7+HU is the most modern variant of the Leopard 2 MBT, which has been in service in repeatedly modernised versions since 1979. Its technical design largely corresponds to the Leopard 2A8 ordered by Norway and Germany last year for delivery from 2025. Italy, Lithuania, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands have also expressed interest in purchasing Leopard 2A8s.
In 2018 Hungary began a comprehensive renewal of its armed forces and defence industry equipment. Twenty H145M light combat helicopters – similar to those ordered by Germany at the end of 2023 – have been in service since 2021. The delivery of Lynx KF41 infantry fighting vehicles began in 2022, with the first Lynx from Hungarian production handed over in December 2023.
Meanwhile, the Hungarian government recently signed development contracts with Rheinmetall for the Panther KF51 Evo MBT and the Lynx Skyranger 30 air defence vehicle. Rheinmetall has established a joint venture in Hungary for the development and production of combat vehicles and has set up a development and production centre in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary.
