On the way to Budapest, the Prime Minister was also asked whether this package is worth it for Hungary as a whole, given that it spends quite a lot on business and in certain areas on American products and services (nuclear fuel purchase: $114 million, LNG purchase $600 million, military procurement $700 million, potentially $20 billion for SMRs, so a total of $1,414 million, 470 billion HUF). Viktor Orbán responded by saying that it would be worthwhile to separate all the most important elements of the agreement one by one and examine whether the given agreement could have been concluded better with another country. According to him, the answer is no. No one could have found a better source, at a higher technological level, at a cheaper price – explained the prime minister, who said that this deal is therefore excellent for Hungary. He added: they made a lot of money for Hungary.
Among them, he mentioned that Hungary should buy liquefied natural gas anyway, the question was who to buy it from. The Hungarian government was able to reach a good agreement with the Americans, but there is still a dispute – he admitted. It is good to buy this quantity, it is necessary for diversification, he added. The technique of storing spent fuel: here a solution was needed so that the spent fuel does not have to be taken out of the area of the nuclear power plant, and this American system is better, cheaper and more advanced than the previous one – he listed.
Concerning the military industry agreement was also terminated and the prime minister disclosed new information that had not yet been known at this point. We agreed on several items – he began. He reminded that Hungary is developing a military industry. We must definitely spend this money on the purchase of weapons – he underlined. According to him, the question was what kind of systems Hungary is buying. He admitted that not all systems are American, and recalled that when he was prime minister for the first time, they did not choose the American solution, he resisted, but instead chose the Swedish-English solution, these are the Gripens. We will not replace them, the Americans would be happy, but it was not discussed – he explained.
There are so many valuable American weapons systems here right now I mean HIMARS, anti-missile systems, which are the best in the world. If someone today wants to create security through this weapon system, then it’s best if you buy one.
In addition, our regional rivals also bought them
he answered another question on the flight home from Washington.
We have to keep up – he revealed, making a clear reference to the fact that Hungary is buying a HIMARS system. We know from the statement of the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the value of the agreement concluded in the field of the defense industry is 700 million dollars, which is 232 billion HUF at the current exchange rate.
What is this system?
HIMARS (M142) is a highly mobile, truck-based multiple rocket launcher capable of precision long-range strikes. In the Ukrainian war, it is mainly deployed against Russian logistical and high-value targets (air defenses, airports, electronic warfare equipment). At the beginning of 2023, there were reports that, according to a source close to the Ministry of National Defense, the idea of acquiring HIMARS was repeatedly raised in this country. At the time, they wrote: according to the sources, there is no exact number yet, but Hungary would need roughly half of the Romanian purchase – i.e. the Hungarian Defense Forces would acquire about twenty HIMARS missile launchers. HIMARS is a wheeled vehicle-launched multiple rocket launcher, basically equipped with a six-tube 277 mm M26 or M30/31 rocket launch container, but there is also a version that launches an MGM-140 ATACMS rocket. The firing range of “traditional” missiles is 30-70 kilometers, that of ATACMS is 300 kilometers. The international success of HIMARS rose with the Russian-Ukrainian war that broke out in 2022, after the United States decided in the summer to deliver modern weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces.
He also detailed that at the suggestion of Energy Minister Csaba Lantos, Hungary is diversifying its procurement of nuclear fuel and will also allow the American actor into this area. Our experts dare to say with sufficient certainty that we can use French and American fuel in a Russian-type nuclear power plant. This question was decided at the level of science and profession, so we accepted the argument of the minister – he explained why they chose Westinghouse.
We followed the developments of the Trump-Orbán summit and the resulting agreement on Friday and Saturday in these articles:
Cover photo: The Prime Minister gives an interview on November 8 on the flight home from Washington. Source: Source: Viktor Orbán’s Facebook page
