A Gripen fighter jet belonging to the Hungarian Defence Forces has crashed near Szolnok in central Hungary, with the pilot ejecting safely. Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced the crash in a post on Facebook on the morning of August 24, saying the cause was not yet known.
Magyar said an investigation had already begun and that the defence minister was travelling to the site. A preliminary report showed no injuries and no damage to civilian infrastructure, he added.
Hungarian defence minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said in a video posted on social media that the pilot was in an ambulance but had escaped injury. The minister said the pilot had done everything possible to bring the aircraft down on military property.
Ruszin-Szendi said he was heading to the scene with the chief of the general staff and would give further details from there. Hungarian outlets published footage showing the wreckage burning in open ground.
Reuters reported that the cause of the accident remained unclear and that there were no casualties. Swedish manufacturer Saab said it had been told one of its aircraft was involved but had no further information, referring questions to the Hungarian authorities.
Szolnok, southeast of Budapest, is home to a Hungarian Defence Forces helicopter base. The Gripen fleet operates from Kecskemét, also in central Hungary.
Hungary has flown the Swedish-built JAS 39 Gripen for two decades under a lease arrangement with Saab, with the aircraft due to pass into Hungarian ownership this year. Budapest ordered four additional single-seat JAS 39C jets under a contract extension agreed in 2024 and took delivery of the first two in April.
The crash is the first loss of a Hungarian Gripen in more than a decade. It comes with the government of Magyar, in office since May, having put defence co-operation on the agenda of his first major bilateral talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome.
Hungary lost two of the jets in 2015, one during a multinational exercise at Čáslav in the Czech Republic in May and a second at Kecskemét the following month. Both pilots survived and the fleet was grounded for review.
The aircraft carry out NATO air policing duties, including rotations covering the airspace of the Baltic states. The Hungarian Government has not said whether the remaining jets would be grounded while the investigation continues.
