“In addition to the production plant, a test environment suitable for testing Lynx armoured vehicles and off-road vehicles will also be established at the ZalaZone automotive industry test track in cooperation with Rheinmetal”, Minister for Innovation and Technology László Palkovics announced in Zalaegerszeg in Thursday.

At an event held jointly with Minister of Defence Tibor Benkő at the ZalaZone Automotive Industry Test Track in Zalaegesrszeg, Mr. Palkovics announced that a combat vehicle production plant will be constructed with an investment of some 60 billion forints (EUR 168 million), next to which a test track will also be established on a 20-hectare area of land. “Production will begin in 2023; one of the world’s most modern military plants will employ some 500 people, and in addition to production will also be involved in development”, he added.

“This is not the first time that a joint project being realised within the framework of traditional Hungarian-German cooperation is being expanded with an innovation element”, the Minister for Innovation and Technology said. “However, the importance of the Zalaegerszeg joint venture lies in the fact that, via the highest value procurement of the Hungarian Defence and Military Forces Development Program, the Hungarian Defence Force (HDF) will be supplied with armoured vehicles manufactured at the new plant”, he explained.

According to Mr. Palkovics, based on the experiences gained during the first half of 2020, we are right to expect that German enterprises will be searching for Central European opportunities to an even greater extent than they have been already. “German global brands could tighten their Hungarian relations in the interests of shortening procurement chains, and the appearance of Rheinmetal is the latest in a string of major brands and suppliers including to Audi, BMW and Mercedes”, he stated.

“In addition to restoring economic growth, it is the government’s firm intent for the sector’s new investment projects to continuously increase the level of research & development capacities, and for a continuously increasing ratio of new production capacities to involve new, state-of-the-art engineering solutions”, the Minister said.

He added that an internationally important industrial-innovation base is being established next to the ZalaZone test track, which itself has unmatched qualities, which will expand the services offered by the test track, reinforce Hungarian industry, and increase the supplier opportunities of Hungarian enterprises. “Zalaegerszeg and the region could become an engine of Hungarian economic recovery”, he declared.

Minister of Defence Tibor Benkő spoke about the fact that the security situation and environment is changing extremely rapidly, markedly, and often unpredictably, and the government and the military must understand the duty and responsibility they are shouldering in the interests of preserving peace for the people of Hungary. “In recent decades, the situations that have developed in our vicinity have borne with them an extremely high number of challenges, and accordingly we must be prepared, and Hungary's Defence and Military Forces Development Program serves this precise purpose”, he stated.

The Program is not just about the purchasing of technical equipment, but also the creation of a defence industry, research & development, and providing employment. The acquisition of new combat vehicles represents the resolution of a 17-year debt towards Hungarian soldiers, because the HDF had armoured troop transports until 2003, but these were put out of commission together with the army’s self-propelled artillery, and it is this that must now be recreated”, the Minister explained.

Government Commissioner for Military Development Projects Gáspár Maróth from the Prime Minister’s Office pointed out that the Military Technology Institute was established in Hungary exactly one hundred years ago, but following the Second World War and the 1989 regime change the Hungarian defence industry found itself in total decline.

He added that the level of the defence industry was also higher in neighbouring countries, but Hungary succeeded in finding partners throughout the world with whom it was able to create the required conditions. “Several countries were also standing in line for the combat vehicle project that is being realised in Zalaegerszeg, and with much higher hopes than Hungary’s, but in the end the investment, which is also highly significant for the international defence industry, is being realised here”, he explained.

“This isn’t the first defence industry plant in Hungary, and our competitors also agree that the arms manufacturing begun in Kiskunfélegyháza is of similarly high quality. There are also further plans; the defence industry attracts other fields of research & development, and other sectors of industry borrow a host of technological developments from the field of defence”, the Government Commissioner indicated.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rheinmetal AG Armin Papperger spoke about the fact that the company has observed extremely high-quality working conditions in Hungary, as well as extremely close and precise cooperation between the administration and industry. “Thanks to the Zalaegerszeg plant, Hungary will become an extremely strong member within NATO, and the world’s most highly developed technology will be installed in Hungary”, he said.

“The new plant in Zala County will be Rheinmetal’s 142nd production unit worldwide, and will be its most modern within the field of the defence industry. The facility will manufacture platforms that contain electronics and in which artificial intelligence, digital technology and robot technology play a determining role”, the German company director said.

The region’s Member of Parliament and the Ministerial Commissioner for the construction of the 45-billion-forint (EUR 126 million) test track László Vigh told reporters that the ZalaZone test track is currently around 70 percent complete. “The construction of the intelligent city, which exists nowhere else, is still ongoing on an area of 18 hectares, fully imitating the environment of a whole city, as is the construction of the 1.5-kilometre stretch of motorway and the connecting roads leading to it”, he stated.

Mayor of Zalaegerszeg Zoltán Balaicz recalled that Zalaegerszeg is a traditional military city with a long history dating back to Turkish times, and the modern defence industry development project makes it even more proud of this long history. “In the midst of the economic transformation that followed the regime change, the machine industry gained strength in the city, as did information technology, electronics, teaching and infrastructure development, and the most important element in this innovative environment is the ZalaZone test track, where the defence industry development project will now also be realised”, he stated.

(Ministry of Innovation and Technology/MTI)