According to the extremely liberal DennikN portal, it is conceivable that the Hungarian Lynx tanks could be the main force of the Slovak army, and their operation would also depend on the Hungarian state and companies. The bids for one of the largest military public procurements of the current Slovak government, the €1.74 billion purchase of tracked armored vehicles, have arrived at the Slovak Ministry of Defense. For this amount, the Slovak army would buy 152 vehicles.

Although several people criticized the public procurement, saying that there would be few applicants due to the too many conditions, four tenders were nevertheless received.

At the last moment, the offer of the less preferred Poles also ran alongside the Hungarian, Swedish and Spanish offers.

At the public procurement, they also complained that while private companies could participate in a similar procurement in the Czech Republic, only partner countries could apply.

Hungary signed up with the German Lynx, which would be manufactured in Zalaegerszeg within the Rheinmetall group. An international consortium is applying for the Slovak tender.

The interesting thing about the tender is that the winning partner country would not only be responsible for the delivery of the vehicles, but would also have to provide service, training, and invest in Slovak industry. It was determined as a condition that 40 percent of Slovakian companies could participate in the production.

Similar to Hungary, Slovakia would increasingly tie its defense investments to the development of its defense industry.

It is not defined in detail which areas and in what form it would be covered, and it will become clear from the individual offers. In any case, the intention is to establish a strategic partnership with the winning state. There is no doubt that Hungary or Poland have a different starting point than the Swedes or the Spanish.

According to the Germans, the Slovaks would have many practical advantages if they could cooperate with their neighbor in the modernization of their army. They are together in NATO and cooperate within the framework of the V4.

Of course, this would be the logical thing to do, and the majority of the Slovak press also takes Hungary's application for granted.

With the exception of the extremely liberal DennikN portal, which reminds us that in this case a certain degree of courage would be needed from the Heger government, to shed the old obsessive nerves, since these weapons will represent the main strength of the Slovak army, and their operation would depend on the current Hungarian state and from companies based in Hungary. Of course, he adds a longer recollection of the Slovak-Hungarian conflicts of the past 30 years to his coverage.

It is sad that a self-proclaimed liberal portal, in order to serve global interests, can turn nationalist at any time in order to fuel the conflict between the two nations.

In any case, Gáspár Maróth, the government commissioner responsible for defense developments, is an optimist, according to which the Lynx combat vehicle will definitely be the best version in terms of price-value ratio. As he emphasized:

"Without Slovakia's sovereignty and security, there is no Hungarian security either. We are interested in Slovakia also having a strong army."

Source and image and full article: mandiner.hu/Matus Tibor