Hungary wants to build the KF51 Panther

Hungary wants to participate in the development of the new German main battle tank Panther KF51, as announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on his TikTok channel on Wednesday.

"We produce Lynxes, we buy Leopards, and we will participate in the development of the Panther," Orbán said. Just recently, the new Rheinmetall factory was opened in Hungary, which will equip (not only) the Hungarian army with the Lynx KF41 IFV.

At the moment, there is only one demonstrator of the Panther KF51: However, according to Rheinmetall's plans, the tank, weighing 59 tons, will be digitally advanced and much more precise in shooting than the current Leopard 2 main battle tank – Hungary has just received the most modern model 2A7HU. The Panthers would likely be equipped with the same 1,475 horsepower diesel engine as the Leopard 2 tanks, but being more than 10 tons lighter at full armament than their predecessors, they would be much more agile than Leopards.

Aside from advanced electronics, the main factor of superiority is the large cannon it carries: The Panther KF51 is equipped with an automatically loaded 130mm smoothbore cannon, larger than the 120mm cannon of the Leopard. The Panther's cannon developed by Rheinmetall can fire both kinetic and programmable munitions, making the Panther like a mobile revolver carrying ammunition in two rapidly exchangeable stores in the rear turret. A 12.7mm machine gun is also part of the standard equipment, but the tank can also be equipped with various remote-controlled weapon systems (RCWS). Hungary has just ordered Hero Loitering Munition, which also complements the tank.

The Lynx IFV is produced in the new factory opened last week in Zalaegerszeg, western Hungary. This Rheinmetall factory is now also the largest military production facility in Hungary. Orbán's announcement also put an end to speculations that arose last week when a Panther KF51 was exhibited at the official opening of the Hungarian factory.

The natural competitor to the Panther KF51 is the EMBT, where the Leopard chassis manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegman, together with the French manufacturer Nexter under the new name KNDS, is trying to combine the German chassis with a turret similar to the Leclerc tank, which is supposed to be automatic. The consortium has just patented a modular turret:

More on Panther KF51 on SPARTANAT

– PODCAST: ALL ABOUT THE NEW MAIN BATTLE TANK PANTHER KF51

– READING: THE PANTHER BROCHURE

– EUROSATORY 22: THIS IS THE KF51 PANTHER