The Hungarian government has joined forces with Rheinmetall to develop the Panther KF51 tank through to production maturity.
A contract to this effect has now been signed in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary.
The development contract is worth around €288 million.
A demonstrator vehicle will be constructed and qualified, paving the way to full-scale production.
Noteworthy, Rheinmetall is cooperating in the project with the state-owned Hungarian holding company N7, which also holds a 49 percent stake in the joint venture Rheinmetall Hungary.
Moving forward together as partners, Hungary and Rheinmetall will jointly develop and prepare for full production the next-generation tank whose concept Rheinmetall first presented to the world public at Eurosatory 2022 trade fair.
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 homogeneity with Hungary’s existing fleet of Leopard 2 tanks. Nevertheless, 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.
The Panther K51 tank possesses a high degree of digitalization and networkability. Furthermore, new force protection technologies like the standoff protection system StrikeShield will enable a low aggregate weight.
Further, 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.
Besides, the basic crew of the Panther KF51 tank consists of three soldiers: the commander, gunner and driver.
A fourth station, in front on the lefthand side of the bow, is reserved for a subsystem operator.
Also, a company or battalion commander can also use it as a mobile command post.
