Hungary announced plans to purchase $700mn worth of US HIMARS rocket systems and state oil company MOL agreed to buy 510,000 tonnes of crude oil for $500mn from American suppliers during US Vice President JD Vance's visit to Budapest, Hvg reported on April 8, citing the White House.

The visit was described by Washington as "historic", marking "a new era of bilateral cooperation in energy, technology, and security."

The centrepiece of the energy agreements is a civil nuclear deal. Washington is supporting a front-end engineering and design study for the potential deployment of up to 10 American small modular reactors (SMRs) in Hungary, with an estimated value of $20bn.

A separate agreement between Westinghouse and state-owned MVM will explore extending the operational life of the Paks 1 nuclear power plant and further SMR collaboration. The memorandum of understanding builds on a November agreement between the two companies timed to coincide with Prime Minister Viktor Orban's visit to the White House. Westinghouse will also supply nuclear fuel to MVM.

The $700mn HIMARS acquisition "will strengthen NATO's collective defence posture along the Eastern Flank", the White House said. A separate defence memorandum signed between L3 Harris and Budapest-listed 4iG on April 7 will see L3's communication technology incorporated into the HIMARS system to ensure interoperability with NATO and US forces. Northrop Grumman and 4iG also launched a joint initiative to develop Hungary's first geosynchronous satellite by 2030.

In healthcare and technology, GE Healthcare and Semmelweis University will establish an oncology excellence centre in Hungary.

Microsoft signed agreements with the Hungarian government and the Gabor Denes technical university on AI and digital training programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises, and a separate deal to secure public sector digital infrastructure through cloud solutions.

Opposition leader Peter Magyar said Vance's visit "did not come free" and that the agreements were the price paid for his campaign to back Orban.

Vance's Budapest trip came during a break from his role in the US-Iran ceasefire negotiations. He has emerged as a central figure in the Pakistan-mediated talks, with Trump confirming him as one of the administration's lead negotiators alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio.