Hungary will purchase a German control system (Surface-to-Air Missile Operations Center or SAMOC) for its ground-to-air missiles that will be able to coordinate all of the country’s systems. The deal was signed by Martin Deister and Michael Apel on behalf of the contractor, Airbus, and by Péter Fodor, head of the Hungarian Defense Ministry’s procurement office.
The SAMOC system is used by several NATO countries and has a high degree of compatibility and interoperability and is considered the foundation upon which Hungarian air defense can be developed or upgraded in the future. The price of the purchase was not disclosed.
Further details also emerged about an earlier announcement of the Hungarian Armed Forces’ purchase of German tanks. The manufacturer, Kraus-Maffei Wegmann announced in a press release that Hungary will buy 44 of the latest, A7+ variant Leopard 2 main battle tanks. The Leopard 2 has a 120mm Rheinmetall L/55 cannon, an 1,500 horsepower engine and a top speed of 72 km/h. Additionally, the Hungarian Armed Forces will also purchase 12 used Leopard 2 A4 tanks from the company for training purposes. The value of this deal has not been disclosed either.
