Hungary is Rheinmetall’s launch customer for the Lynx fighting vehicle

COLOGNE, Germany — Rheinmetall announced it has found the first-ever taker for its new Lynx infantry fighting vehicle, with Hungary buying 218 copies for more than $2 billion.

Company executives celebrated the order as a key deal for the company, following an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Army’s Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle replacement program last year.

“The Lynx’s market breakthrough is a major success for us,” Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in a statement. “And the fact that we were able to convince Hungary — an important EU and NATO partner — to choose this innovative vehicle makes this success all the greater.”

Hungary has been on a military shopping spree recently, with billions of dollars spent on American missile-defense weaponry and German Leopard 2 tanks in the most modern configuration.

At the same time, the government of Prime Minister Victor Orban is at odds with much of the European Union over its curbing of press freedoms and sidelining parliamentary oversight under the pretext of a state of emergency in response to the spread of COVID-19.

Rheinmetall’s €2 billion (U.S. $2.4 billion) contract with the Hungarian government, signed in Budapest, is for 218 Lynx KF41 vehicles, nine Buffalo armored recovery vehicles, as well as spares and simulators, the company wrote in a statement. The Lynx vehicles will be equipped with Rheinmetall’s manned Lance 30mm turret.

Production is slated for two phases, with the first 46 Lynx copies and the nine Buffalos to be built in Germany and delivered by early 2023. A second batch of 172 Lynx vehicles will then roll off a future production line in Hungary, for which the company established a joint venture with the Hungarian government last month.

Rheinmetall’s newest vehicle is also in the running in the Czech Republic as well as Australia, where the company has something of a lock on much of the land modernization program.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

德国科隆——莱茵金属公司宣布，其新型“山猫”步兵战车找到了第一个买家，匈牙利以超过20亿美元的价格购买了218辆。

公司高管们将这笔订单视为公司的一笔关键交易，此前该公司去年竞标美国陆军布雷德利步兵战车替换项目时遭遇失败。

莱茵金属公司首席执行官阿明·帕佩格尔在一份声明中表示：“Lynx的市场突破对我们来说是一项重大成功。更重要的是，我们成功说服了匈牙利——欧盟和北约的重要伙伴——选择这款创新型车辆，这使得我们的成功更加意义非凡。”

匈牙利最近一直在疯狂采购军火，花费数十亿美元购买美国导弹防御武器和最新配置的德国豹2坦克。

与此同时，总理维克托·欧尔班领导的政府因限制新闻自由和以应对新冠疫情蔓延为借口而搁置议会监督，与欧盟大部分成员国产生了分歧。

莱茵金属公司在一份声明中表示，该公司与匈牙利政府在布达佩斯签署了一份价值20亿欧元（约合24亿美元）的合同，内容包括218辆Lynx KF41装甲车、9辆Buffalo装甲抢修车以及备件和模拟器。Lynx装甲车将配备莱茵金属公司研发的Lance 30毫米机炮炮塔。

生产计划分两个阶段进行，首批 46 辆 Lynx 和 9 辆 Buffalo 将在德国生产，并于 2023 年初交付。第二批 172 辆 Lynx 随后将在匈牙利的未来生产线下线，该公司上个月与匈牙利政府为此成立了一家合资企业。

莱茵金属公司最新推出的这款车辆也在捷克共和国和澳大利亚参与竞标，该公司在澳大利亚的陆地现代化项目上几乎占据了绝对优势。

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。