Gripen fighter manufacturer to bring aeronautical development centre to Hungary
According to a statement by the ministry, Szijjártó began by noting that Hungary and the SAAB Group have been cooperating on Gripen fighters for more than twenty years, ensuring Hungary's safety in the air.
He pointed out that the Hungarian Air Force has 14 Gripen fighter jets, but next year the fleet will be expanded by four more aircraft.
He recalled that Hungarian Gripen aircraft are regularly involved in the protection of the Baltic airspace, in addition to neighbouring Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia, for example, Hungarian pilots will be on duty in the region for four months from August this year.
At the same time, Szijjártó emphasised that cooperation with the SAAB Group is not limited to this area, as
an agreement has been reached with the company to establish an aeronautical development centre in Hungary.
He explained that it is a large engineering centre where important development work will be carried out for the aircraft manufacturer.
In the current security and geopolitical situation, the demand for combat aircraft has absolutely increased. Obviously, this requires new developments, new engineering capacities to be created, and one of these new engineering capacities, one of these new engineering centres, one of these new aeronautical development centres within the SAAB Group will be created in Budapest, Hungary,
he said.
In his view, this is a great opportunity for Hungarian engineers to play a role in this high-tech industry.
"This new engineering development centre will put Hungary on the map of combat aircraft development countries in Europe, contribute to the technological upgrading of the Hungarian economy and help the Hungarian economy enter a new dimension," he said.
Cover photo: Hilary Swift/Bloomberg via Getty Images
