Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said the Hungarian government sees the security of Hungarians and preserving peace as its priority.
At the opening event of the Adaptive Hussars 23 international military exercises held in the presence of President Katalin Novák, Minister Szalay-Bobrovniczky said Hungary was building a military capable of facing all security challenges in close cooperation with its allies. In the current “era of dangers”, Europe faces war, illegal migration and the threat of terrorism, Minister Szalay-Bobrovniczky said. The national security service has warned of the possibility of “trained soldiers of terrorist organizations and with them the threat of terrorism, at the borders of Hungary,” he said. At the same time, the Armed Forces and defense industry are thriving, with new factories, successful recruitment, and performance showing “the Armed Forces have reached a new level”, he said. Adaptive Hussars 23, a complex international exercise with participants from Italy, Turkey, Croatia and the US, is taking place in several parts of the country, involving much of the Armed Forces and public administration, he said. The exercise is about testing and developing the country’s defense capabilities, he said. The initial phase involves some 1,000 troops, 340 of whom are foreign and 170 Hungarian. Besides Hungarian and foreign military units deployed to Hungary, the exercise involves some 4,500 members of Hungarian public administration, he said. Adaptive Hussars 23 is the largest exercise of the Hungarian Armed Forces this year, “a test of everything we have built and created so far. We will see where we stand and what and how we should bolster further,” he said. The exercise will improve cooperation between various branches of public administration and soldiers, while public servants will have a better knowledge of how to help each other in joint tasks, he said. In military life “we must always hope for the best but prepare for the worst. We must be ready to do what needs to be done for our family, our localities and the country,” Minister Szalay-Bobrovniczky said.