A NASAMS Norwegian-US air-defense battery launching an AMRAAM missile.
On Wednesday, President of the Republic Katalin Novák and Minister of Defense Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky visited the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system.
Minister of Defence Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky stressed that the visit was significant because of the long-standing good relations between the two countries, which are particularly evident in the field of defense. He said that, among other things, they were shown the combined air defense system that Hungary should study in the light of the Polish missile incident on Tuesday.
The air defense system known as Iron Dome is actually a combination of radar and missile that can visualize flying objects and then destroy them as a result of a complex technological system, the Minister informed.
Spike Missile. Photo: Twitter
It is a less known fact that components of the Iron Dome system have already been ordered by Hungary. As has been reported, the Ministry of Defense has ordered an unknown quantity of the Israeli ELTA radars that are a key component of the Iron Dome air defense system. However, the rocket launchers that will be integrated with the radars will not be of Israeli design, instead Hungary has purchased the Norwegian-US NASAMS system for this purpose.
Furthermore, the air-defense missiles used in NASAMS will also be of US and European design, the surface to air variant of the AMRAAM rockets being used in the initial deployment phase. At a later stage the European developed, more advanced Meteor missiles could be deployed with the system.
Israel is fast becoming a key defense partner for Hungary, as apart from the ELTA radars, Israel could be also supplying Spike anti-tank missiles for Hungary’s planned armored infantry fighting vehicle fleet. There are also reports of the Hungarian defense forces studying the Elbit Systems manufactured Hermes aerial drones. These would most likely involve the unarmed version used for medium-range, long-duration advanced surveillance purposes.
Featured Photo: Twitter
