Rheinmetall promises to start delivering the new military vehicles in 2024.Continue reading
Those who do not deal with the defense industry may think that we are acting in haste, but we have already made the first decisions in 2017, Viktor Orbán said at the Zalaegerszeg factory inauguration of the German defense industry giant Rheinmetall. The Prime Minister first greeted those who built the plant and those who will work there – reports Magyar Nemzet.
Everything you see here happened before the others realized it was needed, he added. He said Hungary must be nimble and forward-looking.
The Prime Minister also mentioned in a radio interview on Friday morning that he would attend the factory opening. He then looked back on two decades of degradation of Hungary’s defense capabilities and concluded:
For peace, you need strength, Hungary needs to build a war industry, and in this process the German company plays an important role.
“We stood here a year and a half ago. What has happened since then speaks for itself. The factory has been completed and the building was inaugurated last spring. Everything was made on Hungarian soil, by Hungarian skilled workers and Hungarian engineers.
Made in Hungary in every sense of the word,”
the Prime Minister stressed at the factory opening.
Rheinmetall’s newly built factory in Zalaegerszeg, western Hungary. Photo: MTI/Koszticsák Szilárd
He underlined that this factory will be run by Hungarian workers and engineers, adding that the factory is not only a production facility, but also a training center for engineers, as well as a research and development center.
Manufacturing and research and development in one place. Zalaegerszeg has become a place from which the future of the defense industry and electronics can be seen clearly,
he pointed out.
Gábor Böröndi, Chief of the Defence Staff, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Armin Papperger, President of Rheinmetall, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Minister of Defence, and Zoltán Balaicz (Fidesz-KDNP), Mayor (L-R) at the inauguration of the German defense company’s tank factory in Zalaegerszeg. Photo by Benko Vivien Cher via MTI/Prime Minister’s Press Office
The Prime Minister announced that a joint venture with an Israeli company to produce combat drones will be established as well.
We will not stop here. Next year, Rheinmetall’s munitions factory will be operating in Várpalota. A year ago, we handed over the Airbus factory in Gyula, where parts for combat helicopters are made,”
he explained. The Prime Minister stressed that despite the crises of recent years, Hungary has not given up on its ambition to have an independent defense industry, and the war has only strengthened this determination.
He said that Hungarian military virtues go back to ancient times.
Peace requires strength. Spiritual, economic and military strength. Spiritual strength to resist the pro-war forces that are trying to force us into war. Economic strength to overcome the damage of war and sanctions. And we need military strength so that everyone can see that we can preserve Hungary’s peace and security in times of war,”
the Prime Minister pointed out.
The Prime Minister thanked Zalaegerszeg for hosting the investment. He said,
let this be proof that we Hungarians have been, are and will be called upon to do great things”.
“God above us all, Hungary above all! Go, Hungary, go, Hungarians”, Viktor Orbán concluded his speech.
Featured image: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Benko Vivien Cher