Defense Forces Flex Their Muscle in the Largest Military Exercise to Date

The Minister of Defense Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky opened the Adaptive Hussars 23 multi-national exercise with NATO forces in the presence of President Katalin Novák, Commander-in-Chief of the Hungarian Defense Forces, on Tuesday in Hódmezővásárhely.

We live in an age of threats. The edifice of security, which has stood firm for many decades, is seriously cracking. War, illegal migration, and with it the threat of terrorism are plaguing Europe.”

The threat of terrorism is also growing at the Serbian-Hungarian border: our national security services warn that along with migration, trained soldiers from terrorist organizations and the threat of terrorism are knocking at Hungary’s borders, said the minister in his speech.

At the same time, good news comes from the Defense Forces every week. Factories being built and commissioned “big iron” arriving and being put into service, successful recruitment, and serious achievements indicate that the Hungarian Defense Forces are moving to a higher level, the minister said.

The Adaptive Hussars 2023, organized with the participation of NATO forces, is a highly complex exercise, taking place with the participation of Italy, Turkey, Croatia, and the United States, and covers a large area of the country.

The initial phase of the exercise – currently underway – involves almost a thousand soldiers, 340 of them foreigners and 170 Hungarian reserve soldiers. In order to test the country’s defense management system and the interoperability of the Hungarian Defense Forces, several allied military and Hungarian state organizations stationed in Hungary will also participate in the exercise, with approximately 4,500 personnel, using more than 200 different types of equipment, the minister said.

Thanks to the exercise, there will be much greater coordination between the different sub-systems of the state administration, and soldiers and civil servants will better understand how and in what ways they can help each other to solve common tasks. Coordination and communication within the federal system will also be tested,” said the head of the Ministry of Defense.

The Air Force is also prepared for the Adaptive Hussars 23 multi-national exercise: several aircraft and helicopters have been relocated to Pápa from the MH Kiss József 86th Helicopter Brigade in Szolnok.

Two Zlin-242 trainer aircraft, five H145M multi-purpose military helicopters, and one AS350 helicopter were transferred to Pápa. The very first preparatory phase of the three-phase Adaptive Hussars 23 exercise coincides with the Blue Lightning 4 exercise to test the Air Force’s command and control system. In the latter, the Szolnok-based rotary-wing unit will perform patrol and reconnaissance missions with the redeployed assets during the exercise, according t0 the statement.

Featured Photo: Honvedelem.hu