Panther KF51 tank to become Hungary's Main Battle Tank
The Hungarian government has joined forces with Rheinmetall to develop the Panther KF51 through to production maturity. The development contract is worth around €288 million.
Rheinmetall first presented the Panther to the world public at the Eurosatory 2022 trade fair. The Panther KF51 EVO will be armed with Rheinmetall’s 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. 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. A 12.7 mm co-axial machine gun complements the main gun.
And there is also the Israeli angle. The optional UVision HERO 120 loitering ammunition capability expands the Panther’s strike capability to non-line-of-sight targets and can be mounted depending on role and mission requirements.
Rheinmetall claims that the Panther K51 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. Its chassis is based on the Buffalo armored 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.
The basic crew of the Panther KF51 consists of three soldiers: the commander, gunner and driver. A fourth station, in front on the left-hand side of the bow, is reserved for a subsystem operator. A company or battalion commander can also use it as a mobile command post.
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