Dutch Tracked Combat Vehicles at Hajmáskér

During the exercise, 3,000 soldiers and more than 500 military assets are expected to arrive in the region. These include the +100 vehicles whose transport trains arrived at the Hajmáskér railway station on March 17. The rows of wheeled and tracked vehicles were unloaded only early in the morning the next day. When the camp designated for the storage of these vehicles was set up, the crews arrived, drove their combat vehicles out of the railway station, formed a column and took them to their destination. It took only some minutes for the seasoned Dutch soldiers to unload their vehicles from the train. This task had to be executed quickly indeed, because another two trains – also loaded with combat vehicles – were expected to arrive.

Exercise “Várpalota Challenge 2014" further strengthens the Dutch–Hungarian military relations within NATO. Cooperation between the two countries has been going on for several years. For example, Hungary took over a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) from the Netherlands in October 2006. The soldiers of the two nations have been and continue to be co-deployed in a number of NATO- and EU-led operations, for instance in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Somalia. Additionally, the Netherlands participates in the consortium of 12 nations which set up the Heavy Airlift Wing in Pápa (this international unit currently has a Dutch commander).

Photos by the author