A Hungarian defense contractor has accepted the country’s first delivery of a Diamond DA62 Multi-Purpose Platform (MPP), a sensor-packed variant of the DA62 diesel-engine twin designed for aerial reconnaissance. Diamond Aircraft Industries, the aircraft’s Austria-based, Chinese-owned manufacturer, successfully delivered the aircraft to HM Zrínyi, a Hungarian state-owned company operating under the nation’s defense ministry. 

Flight tracking data shows that the DA62 MPP, registered HA-HML, departed from Diamond’s production facility at Wiener Neustadt East Airport (LOAN) in Austria on March 12 and arrived at Hungary’s Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (LHBP), where senior representatives of the Hungarian Defense Forces held a formal handover ceremony on March 17. 

Equipped with Vexcel and Riegl high-resolution digital cameras, airborne laser scanners, and lidar sensors, the DA62 MPP’s aerial mapping system allows operators to create detailed orthophotos, digital terrain models, and 3D urban maps.

“This is a transformative capability,” added Gábor Kulcsár, CEO of HM Zrínyi. “For the first time since 1977, Hungarian military cartography is being equipped with a new aerial platform. The DA62 MPP will simplify the production of high-resolution digital terrain and surface models, enabling our teams to work more efficiently and effectively.”

“With the DA62 MPP, we are entering a new era of aerial reconnaissance,” said János Czermann, the Hungarian Defence Forces’ deputy state secretary for human resources. “This aircraft will serve as a cornerstone for the Hungarian Defence Forces’ simulation, command, and control systems, and will support a wide range of defense-related data needs. It is a vital asset for national security.”

According to Diamond, the DA62 MPP is a turnkey solution that offers “unprecedented aerial imaging and geospatial data collection capabilities.” The two-seat aircraft has an endurance of up to 9.6 hours and a maximum cruise speed of 192 knots.

“The DA62 MPP is renowned for its versatility and operational flexibility,” said Robert Kremnitzer, COO and head of design organization at Diamond Aircraft Austria. “It is ideally suited for a wide range of missions, including intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, law enforcement, border patrol, and aerial mapping.”

Since the aircraft arrived in Budapest, it has completed nearly a dozen flights over Hungary, including lawnmower-pattern surveillance flights near Nyíregyháza and Debrecen in eastern Hungary and a stop at ​​Pápa Air Base in the west.