Hungary to make sniper rifles

HM Arzenál Zrt., a company under the Hungarian Defence Ministry, will continue to make Unique Alpine AG’s sniper rifles and hunting guns in its factory in Kiskunfélegyháza. 

According to Index, Gáspár Maróth, the government commissioner for armed forces development, said before signing the relevant German-Hungarian industrial cooperation agreement that the Bavarian company will transfer not only the production facilities to Hungary but also its research and development units. The HM Arzenál Zrt. and the Unique Alpine AG

have been developing new weapons for one year.

He added that key players in the sector are already interested in the new products of the two companies. Furthermore, the police, the prison services, the military, and the National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary will also buy the new weapons made in Kiskunfélegyháza.

• Creations of Hungary – 6 weapons made by Hungarians
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Maróth stated that the investment can play a key role in the development of the Hungarian economy. The factory showed its newest TPG-3 sniper rifle made by Bavarian engineers and Hungarian developers for a Canadian tender and the AR–10 NX and AR–15 NX semi-automatic rifles allowing

more accurate targeting than other products in their category.  

HERE we wrote about six weapons made by Hungarians trying to introduce our readers to Hungarian inventions or products that might be less known. Some of them were only prototypes, but others have even influenced the conduct of modern warfare.

The emergence and number of the Soviet armoured vehicles and heavy tanks in 1942 incited the production of Hungarian anti-tank missiles, as at that time, the Germans were reluctant to hand over the blueprints of their own panzerfaust. The missile department of the Institute of Military Technology embarked on the development of two types. The smaller was the 60mm diameter 44M anti-tank hand-held missile launcher, the larger was the 215mm 44M mace projectile, which was

the first known heavy anti-tank missile in the world,

with a charge of more than four pounds. It had its own portable dual launcher that could be operated from a truck-bed or the ground. Hungary was the third state in the world – only after the Third Reich and the US – to build deployable anti-tank missiles.

The Turán was a Hungarian medium tank 

developed during WWII. It was inspired by and used solutions from the Czechoslovak Škoda T-21 medium tank. The Turán was produced in two main variants: the 40M (or Turán I) with a 40mm gun and the 41M (or Turán II) with a 75mm gun. There was also a prototype variant, the 43M (or Turán III).

In total, only 424 were made. The Turáns were employed by the 1st and 2nd Hungarian Armoured Divisions, as well as the 1st Cavalry Division, in 1943 and 1944.

 There is only one known surviving Turán tank, 

which is a Turán II on display at the Kubinka Tank Museum.

Featured image: illustration