Hungarian Defence Forces’ Deployment with BAP Mission Ends Successfully

Minister of Defence Dr. István Simicskó said that “the Hungarian pilots did not only perform their duties professionally, but also earned recognition, through their high professional standards, from the commanders and the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) in Germany".

In the frame of the Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission, Hungary as a lead nation fulfilled its tasks together with Germany under NATO command. During their tour of duty, the Hungarian fighter pilots flew more than 430 hours. Since 1 September 2015, the Hungarian Gripens stationed in Lithuania have been scrambled to intercept aircraft on 25 occasions. Besides these 25 Alpha (real-world) scrambles, the Hungarians performed 101 Tango (practice) scrambles as well.

This was the first time that Hungary has participated in the mission, and it has undertaken to carry out air policing duties in the Baltic countries for four months in 2019 again. The Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission is especially important to the Hungarian Defence Forces, because as part of the Alliance, they have had opportunity to participate in a mission that is being conducted to provide security for the citizens of other NATO member states.

With the execution of air policing tasks, Hungary has now joined the rank of those NATO member states that are capable of deploying their air forces outside their borders.

On 8 January at 9 a.m. local time, the outgoing Hungarian BAP detachment handed over responsibilities to a Spanish contingent rotating in. During the deployment, the Hungarian Defence Forces were able to control and guard the airspace of the Baltic countries and Slovenia at the same time, and to fully perform their tasks in Hungary as well.

Photos: BAP and Péter Snoj