Adjutant General of Ohio National Guard visits Hungary

In Hotel Hadik, the members of the delegation of the Ohio National Guard – which has already been maintaining a close partnership with the Hungarian Defence Forces for close to 30 years now – met and held discussions with, among others, Major General Tibor Bozó, Chief of Staff, Hungarian Defence Forces Command and Major General Tamás Sándor, Special Forces Inspector, Hungarian Defence Forces Command. The American delegation was introduced to the Hungarian Defence Forces’ territorial defence capabilities in a plenary session.

In what followed, Major General John C. Harris paid a visit to the HDF Cyber and Information Operations Centre (HDF CIOC) in Szentendre, where Centre Commander Colonel Péter Balogh and Brigadier General Prof. Dr. László Kovács, Cyber Inspector, Hungarian Defence Forces Command welcomed him as a guest. The briefing given there introduced the Cyber Academy and its ongoing training courses. Colonel Balogh spoke about the activity on the Hungarian–Ukrainian border and about the work done in connection with the evacuation from Afghanistan last year.

First Lieutenant Olivér Izmay held a presentation on the non-kinetic elements of the centre, and then Brigadier General László Kovács talked about the place of non-kinetic capabilities in the system of officer training. At the end of the visit, the Adjutant General of the Ohio National Guard had opportunity to gain a brief insight into the work of the Tactical Operations Centre (TOC) of the unit as well.

In the afternoon, Major General John C. Harris, Adjutant General, Ohio National Guard and the delegation headed by him paid a visit to the Balaton Street building of the Ministry of Defence. During the visit, he met with Lieutenant General Zsolt Sándor, Deputy Commander, Hungarian Defence Forces and CSM Zoltán Kaszab, Command Sergeant Major, Hungarian Defence Forces.

Next day, the program continued at the HDF 25th Klapka György Infantry Brigade in Tata. There, Brigadier General Gábor Lőrincz, the commander of the brigade held a presentation introducing the structure and task system of the unit, its international cooperation and roles, as well as the development projects implemented and planned as part of the National Defence and Armed Forces Development Program. In what followed, during a static display the guests learned about the weapons in use with the brigade, including the old and new military equipment, among others the Leopard 2A4HU tank, the Gidrán multi-purpose modular combat vehicle and the Carl Gustaf M4 recoilless rifle, and also the MWT mobile repairing tent designed for the maintenance of Leopard 2A4HU tanks. After the static display, the delegation also had opportunity to gain insight into the ongoing tank and combat vehicle driver training.

Having arrived in Székesfehérvár, the delegation was first shown around the Integrated Operations Centre of the Hungarian Defence Forces Command, and then visited the NATO Force Integration Unit Hungary (NFIU HUN) as well as the Headquarters Multinational Division Centre (HQ MND-C).