The money invested by the German company in its Hungarian operations will go towards developing the Hungarian defense industry.Continue reading
Hungarian television channel Hír TV recently made a video report about Hungary’s largest ammunition factory, located in Sirok, a small village of 1500 inhabitants in the north part of the country.
The arms factory is located in the industrial park of the village, where almost 500 workers produce bullets and casings. They are used by various law enforcement agencies and even NATO. The factory has been operating in Hungary since the 1950s.
The Sirok factory nowadays produces two main parts of ammunition: the bullet and the case. The percussion cap and the powder are made elsewhere. In the production process, yellow and red copper, lead, and steel are used. The raw material passes through a series of presses and lathes until it reaches its final form.
The factory, one of the most important facilities of the Hungarian defense industry, has been privately owned since 1994 by MFS Defense Zrt.
The company has four values in their mission statement: product, cooperation, continuous improvement, and sustainable results.
As revealed in the interview, the factory is so successful, that in recent years they have increased production volume and sales by 25-30 percent and now have a global presence with their products. In addition, the company is about to relaunch its own brand, MFS, which will be used in the Far East, Middle East, and African markets. The products are pistol and revolver ammunition, as well as machine gun ammunition for military and law enforcement authorities.
Meanwhile, German manufacturer Rheinmetall will also build an ammunition factory in Várpalota, some 90 kilometers from Budapest, the foundation stone of which was laid at the end of last year.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said that the Hungarian Defense Forces must be able to serve itself and operate as an independent system, and investments such as the ammunition factory are essential for this.
The groundbreaking ceremony marks the start of the first phase of the Defense Industrial Park, which will create almost 200 new jobs. In the first phase, the factory will produce ammunition for the Lynx infantry fighting vehicle (to be produced in Zalaegerszeg), followed by the Leopard 2A7HU, and finally, the PzH 2000 HU self-propelled howitzer from 2024.
Featured photo via Facebook/MFS Ammunition