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The Hungarian government has announced a €288 million (AU$468.6 million) development contract with Rheinmetall to develop the company’s KF51 Panther tank to production maturity.
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As part of the development contract, a demonstrator vehicle will be constructed and qualified, paving the way to full-scale production. Moving forward together as partners, Hungary and Rheinmetall will jointly develop and prepare for full production of the next-generation tank whose concept Rheinmetall first presented to the public at Eurosatory 2022.
Rheinmetall is cooperating in the project with the state-owned Hungarian holding company N7, which also holds a 49 per cent stake in the joint venture Rheinmetall Hungary.
Armin Papperger, chief executive officer of Rheinmetall, celebrated this milestone achievement, saying, “We’re delighted to have reached another important milestone on the path to producing next-generation fighting vehicles in Hungary.”
Unlike the system demonstrator on show at Eurosatory, the Panther KF51 EVO will be armed with Rheinmetall’s tried-and-tested L55A1 120mm smoothbore gun, which also features in the latest variants of the Leopard 2. This will ensure logistical commonality with Hungary’s existing fleet of Leopard 2 tanks.
“The Panther KF51 is the world’s most advanced main battle tank. It sets a new standard for the combat effectiveness of mechanised formations, while delivering a high degree of future adaptability. At the same time, in our accustomed manner, we’ll be empowering our local joint venture Rheinmetall Hungary and further strengthen the national defence industrial capabilities of our partners,” Papperger added.
As part of futureproofing the platform, the Panther KF51 EVO will already be equipped with an autoloader, moreover, the turret architecture will enable subsequent retrofitting of Rheinmetall’s new 130mm gun.
From the base design, the Panther K51 possesses a high degree of digitalisation and networkability and incorporates new force protection technologies like the stand-off protection system StrikeShield and will enable a low aggregate weight. Its chassis is based on the Buffalo armoured recovery vehicle, supplied by Rheinmetall, in combination with the tank’s low total weight, this contributes to the Panther KF51’s high mobility, while simultaneously resulting in synergy effects in logistics, maintenance, and training owing to commonalities with the Leopard 2 family.
The KF51 Panther tank has a core crew of three – the commander, gunner and driver – with a fourth station reserved for a subsystem operator or battalion commander, enabling the tank to be utilised as a mobile command post.
