German-Hungarian Joint Venture to Support the Defense Forces

KNDS Deutschland and the Hungarian company HM Currus Zrt. want to cooperate closely in the future and have therefore founded the joint venture LEOPARD Hungary MRO Kft. on February 20, 2025. KNDS has a 49 percent stake in the joint venture and Currus has a 51 percent stake. The company is based in Gödöllő, Hungary, reads a press release from the German company.

LEOPARD Hungary MRO (Maintenance, Repair, Operations) shall ensure the long term logistic support of all KNDS systems of the Hungarian army. In 2019, Hungary signed a contract with KNDS for a total of 90 systems, which, in addition to the LEOPARD 2 battle tank and the PzH 2000 artillery system, also includes family vehicles such as the WISENT recovery system and the LEGUAN bridge layer. In addition, LEOPARD Hungary MRO will take over the maintenance of the systems’ simulation and training facilities.

Leopard 2A7HU Tank. Photo: Honvedelem.hu/Kertész László

Hubert Dassinger, the German Co-Managing Director of LEOPARD Hungary MRO said:

The basis of our joint venture lies in the close and successful cooperation we have achieved with our Hungarian customer over the last 5 years.

We are proud that one of our key customers trusts us to support its KNDS fleet together with our Hungarian industrial partner Currus in a long term approach.”

The Hungarian Co-Managing Director of the company, Márton Kertész, informed MTI that the joint venture between the German-French KNDS weapons and armored vehicle manufacturer group and the Hungarian HM Currus Zrt. was founded as a result of a series of negotiations launched in December 2023, with the aim of enabling the Hungarian side to finally be able to maintain and operate the recently acquired 90-strong KNDS fleet of tanks, self-propelled guns and technical vehicles within a few years.

Leopard 2A7HU Tank in action. Photo: Honvédelem.hu/Kertész László

The German side will provide the necessary know-how and its transfer, while the Hungarian side will provide 50 years of experience in domestic maintenance and operation as well as the specialists.

The specialists will carry out the tasks at the station of the assets, the 1st Klapka György Armored Brigade in Tata (northwestern Hungary), and at the premises of HM Currus Zrt. in Gödöllő (near Budapest).

Márton Kertész added that German specialists have already been present in Hungary, as the purchase of the fleet included the provision of a two-year service contract, but as these expire for the various assets, this activity will be gradually taken over by Hungarian specialists who will be continuously trained, thus ensuring the strategic, day-to-day, uninterrupted and long-term maintenance of the assets’ operational availability in accordance with the repair procurements tendered by the Hungarian Defense Forces.

Photo: Honvédelem.hu

Speaking about the technical details, the Hungarian Co-Managing Director said that

the Defense Forces have good experience with the Leopard 2 A7, which is an essential part of the fleet and is currently known as the most modern tank in the world, because the failure rate of these assets is low in itself.

However, they also need to be provided with spare parts and software updates in line with the service requirements that are required in parallel with their use.

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