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International Exercises start again at Újdörögd

Text: Ministry of Defence | Photo: László Kertész and Tünde Rácz (archive) |  09:28 February 21, 2022

The major training events of the spring exercise season are to start soon, among them not only Hungarian but also multinational exercises, like in earlier years.

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This year’s first joint training event is scheduled to take place in late February – early March in the Újdörögd training area of the HDF Bakony Combat Training Centre. These days, some 130 U.S. troops from a Stryker squadron of 2nd Cavalry Regiment, U.S. Army Europe and Africa are deploying to Hungary with 40 combat vehicles to take part in the exercise.

The Strykers, the wheeled armored fighting vehicles of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment stationed in Germany made their debut for the first time in Hungary on Exercise Brave Warrior in 2015. Back then, the program included a spectacular crossing of River Danube, supported by the personnel and military equipment of the Szentes engineer regiment.

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Since then, the highly mobile Stryker squadron of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment has been a recurrent participant in training events organized in Hungary. It took part in exercises Saber Guardian/Dragon Guardian in 2017, Black Sea/Balkan Region Exercise/Saber Guardian in 2019, as well as in Defender Europe/Brave Warrior in 2021.

In the interest of strengthening relations, in 2019 the Ministry of Defence signed an agreement with U.S. Army Europe and Africa, in which they reaffirmed their commitment to organizing joint exercises for various units. The last time they participated in a training event in Hungary was in May–June last year. These joint exercises are indispensable parts and at once highly visible examples of the long-standng close cooperation between the two nations’ armed forces, which has always aimed at promoting interoperability and increasing the readiness of the armed forces of NATO member states through bilateral training programs.