First tanks, now explosives - Rheinmetall's obvious soft spot for Hungary

The leading German armaments group Rheinmetall is expanding its business with Hungary under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. After the construction of a production facility for the new Rheinmetall Lynx infantry fighting vehicle in the EU member state, the next step is now to follow. Again in cooperation with the Hungarian state, a plant for the production of ammunition explosives RDX (Research Department eXplosive) is being built.

According to a statement by the Düsseldorf-based group, Rheinmetall will be the main buyer of the explosives produced at the Várpalota site. He is already benefiting from the construction of the factory. The system technology will be supplied by Rheinmetall Denel Munition, a subsidiary of South Africa. Overall, Rheinmetall speaks of an order value in the low three-digit million range.

The new plant is to be operated in a joint venture with the state-owned Hungarian N7 Holding. There is no information on the question of who will decide in future where the ammunition explosives produced in Hungary may be delivered. The German armaments group is expanding its sources of explosives and ammunition with the new plant. The group buys the large Spanish ammunition manufacturer Expal System, expands at the German ammunition site in Unterlüss and will in future also produce medium-caliber ammunition there that was previously manufactured in Switzerland.

This is due to the enormous increase in the need for ammunition as a result of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine. Rheinmetall describes the new Hungarian project as a strategic investment "to counteract the expected shortage of explosives against the background of the expected demand for ammunition in Europe and NATO". At the same time, it promotes Europe's independence from overseas imports.

However, it will take until 2027 before production actually starts in the new Hungarian explosives factory. The explosive (RDX) can then be used for artillery, tank and mortar ammunition, among other things.

Rheinmetall has other big plans in the NATO member country Hungary. In documents for analysts, the state, led by Prime Minister Orbán, belongs to the category of so-called home markets, with significant orders. These include Germany, Australia, Great Britain and also Hungary.

The breakthrough in business came in 2020 with an order worth a good two billion euros for 209 Lynx infantry fighting vehicles. Hungary is the launch customer for the model. The Lynx is a competitor to the Bundeswehr's Puma, which recently made headlines due to technical problems. It is piquant that Rheinmetall is also involved in the Puma together with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.

In October 2022, Rheinmetall handed over the first Lynx to the Hungarian armed forces in the presence of Prime Minister Orban. It still comes from German production. The Lynx factory set up in Hungary is scheduled to start up at the end of the year.

Originally, Rheinmetall and the Hungarian government had also hoped that their new joint venture for Lynx production could also export to Slovakia. However, in the spring of 2022, under the impression of the war in Ukraine, the Slovakian army decided in favor of the Swedish CV-90 infantry fighting vehicle. A damper for Rheinmetall.

Klaus Wittmann, retired general of the Bundeswehr, speaks at WELT about a possible Leopard consortium for Ukraine. He also comments on the Russian New Year's Eve attacks.

Source: WORLD

After the Lynx order and the explosives factory, Rheinmetall's plans with Hungary also envisage larger joint ammunition production in the future. The foundation stone for the plant was laid in December. The production of medium-caliber ammunition for the Lynx is scheduled to be completed in 2024. That's not all: Analysts' documents also mention the so-called "Loitering Ammunition" as a possible further product. These are explosive drones that circle unnoticed in the airspace over the target area for a long period of time.

According to the Rheinmetall ideas, Hungary should also play a pioneering role in NATO in the digitization and networking of soldiers with tanks, aircraft and reconnaissance drones. At the Bundeswehr, Rheinmetall Defense Electronics already has overall system responsibility for the infantryman of the future project, which aims to modernize soldiers' combat equipment. So far, this concept has provided for the integration of the Puma infantry fighting vehicle - in Hungary the Lynx is to be used for this.

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