The world's first Lynx KF41 battalion

Readiness established. The Hungarian Army has almost completed the first battalion of 45 KF41 Lynx infantry fighting vehicles. This was announced at the IAV 2025 international conference held in Farnborough (UK) from 21 to 23 January.

A contract worth €2 billion has been signed with RHEINMETALL for the delivery of 218 KF41 Lynx in various configurations by 2020. The deployment of this first battalion will therefore take 4.5 years from contract signature.

The contract is divided into two production phases. The first phase comprises the production of 46 KF41 Lynx vehicles, which will be manufactured partly in Germany by RHEINMETALL and partly in the newly established plant of RHEINMETALL Hungary Zrt. in Zalaegerszeg. This phase also includes the delivery of nine Büffel recovery vehicles based on the Leopard 2 armoured chassis.

The second phase comprises the production of 172 Lynx vehicles, all of which will be assembled in Hungary. It includes special variants such as reconnaissance vehicles, self-propelled mortars and medical vehicles. Hungary is also investigating the possibility of integrating an air defence system into the Lynx platform, most likely the Skyranger 30 turret system. The Lynx infantry fighting vehicles are intended to replace the 500 or so BMP-1s that Hungary decommissioned in 2003, as well as the BTR-80A tanks, 66 of which were sold to Serbia and about 60 of which are still in Hungarian service. At the same time as the first Lynx battalion, the first Lynx KF-41s have arrived in Ukraine. And the ITA-001 vehicle has been handed over to the Italian Armed Forces for evaluation. 

HUNGARIAN DEFENCE FORCES online