Rheinmetall to establish modern defence industry centre in Hungary
Rheinmetall will establish a modern defence industry development and engineering centre in Zalaegerszeg with an investment of approximately HUF 3.7 billion (EUR 9.5 million), creating 80 highly skilled jobs, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced on Friday at the site.
According to a statement from the ministry, the minister reported at the announcement of Rheinmetall’s new investment that the German company will set up a defence industry centre in the city worth HUF 3.7 billion, for which the government will provide HUF 560 million (EUR 1.7 million) in support, thus contributing to the creation of 80 highly qualified jobs.
In his speech, he explained that this new facility will carry out development and engineering activities related to military vehicles. With this investment, Hungary is moving closer to the goal set in the Zrínyi 2026 program: to equip the Hungarian Armed Forces with modern equipment, produced domestically to the greatest possible extent.
He emphasised that the defence industry is the most modern industrial sector, where cutting-edge technologies must be applied. The presence of this sector, he noted, creates opportunities for comprehensive modernisation across the entire Hungarian economy, as it also requires numerous suppliers from the electronics, metal, and chemical industries.
Szijjártó warned that humanity is currently living in an age of dangers, and it is no exaggeration to say that this is the most tense period since World War II.
He remarked that Hungary has been living for years in the shadow of the war in Ukraine, into which there are constant attempts to drag the country: “Sometimes with crude statements from Kyiv, sometimes with pressure from Brussels, sometimes with attacks on our energy supply system. Therefore, ensuring that we stay out of the war raging in our neighbourhood requires daily struggle and daily effort,” he said.
He also lamented that although the Hungarian government has stood for peace from the very beginning, a kind of “war psychosis” prevails in Europe, where everything revolves around war.
“Here in Hungary, thanks to God, there is peace, and there will be peace as long as the national government is able to protect it. At the same time, we know that peace requires strength. And how strong a country can be, especially in such difficult times, fundamentally depends on how much it can meet the needs of its armed forces through domestic production,” he declared.
“In recent years, we have made great progress in this regard. Now we are able to serve the needs of the Hungarian Defence Forces to a much greater extent through our own production,” he added.
The minister also touched on the “success story” of Hungarian-German economic cooperation, citing a study that found four-fifths of German companies operating in Hungary would choose Hungary again for their investment.
“Germany is not only the most important investor in Hungary but also our most important trading partner. More than 300,000 Hungarians work for German-owned companies. Every year, German companies spend two to three billion euros in Hungary either on new investments or on the development of existing ones,” he noted.
He also pointed out that over the past eleven years, the Hungarian government has supported 324 major German corporate investments, contributing to the creation of 40,000 new jobs.
He welcomed Hungary’s extensive infrastructure development programs and improvements to the education system, which have made provincial cities increasingly attractive to investors.
In this context, he highlighted that industrial output in Zala County has increased by more than 30% over the past ten years, now exceeding HUF 850 billion annually. This growth, he added, is not unrelated to the fact that during this period the government provided support for a total of 52 investments in the county.