NFIU HUN Celebrates First Anniversary

In his speech, Tamás Vargha said that the NFIU HUN, now celebrating its first anniversary, was set up after the NATO Summit in Wales so that it can organizationally ensure and coordinate the smooth deployment of allied forces.

“This event was an important milestone in the history of Hungary’s NATO membership, because the establishment of the NFIU HUN brought to four the number of military organizations operating under NATO command in Hungary. During its short existence so far, the NFIU HUN could achieve a lot of success that cannot be taken for granted in the life of every other military organization. The task was to launch a military organization from scratch in a short time and make sure that it achieves full capability and operates in compliance with NATO requirements. However, the NFIU HUN has always been able to overcome these obstacles", the state secretary said. He added that in May, the NFIU HUN conducted a NATO evaluation exercise and passed that test with flying colors, and this success is to be credited to the excellent and close cooperation among soldiers of ten nations, namely the United States, Poland, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Germany, Romania, Lithuania, Italy and Hungary.

In his welcome speech, NFIU HUN Commander Col. László Garas said that the organization has so far met all the prerequisites set by NATO, and fulfilled all requirements by deadline. It was stated that on 1 January 2017, the NFIU HUN reached NATO Initial Capability, and then, at the end of May, it performed excellently at the NATO evaluation exercise, reaching Full Capability.

“Subsequently we participated in Exercise Saber Guardian 2017, during which we had opportunity to prove that we are able to support operational support to the activities of real military organizations in a realistic scenario. More than 200 columns on public roads with close to 6000 personnel and 2500 military assets, more than 70 military trains transporting a total of 600 personnel and 3300 combat and motor vehicles, as well as 75 fixed-wing aircraft airlifting some 1,000 troops, and 80 helicopters mainly with refueling purposes – in some form, the NFIU HUN was also involved in tracking and supporting these movements, the commander said.

At the event, on the first anniversary of the activation of the NFIU HUN, tokens of appreciation were presented by Tamás Vargha, Maj.-Gen. Ferenc Korom, Brig.-Gen. Zoltán Schmidt and Col. László Garas.

Photos by the author