„Our Troops Are Ready”

At the press briefing, the minister of defence said that today and back then, society has had the rightful demand for security, but in order to create this security, soldiers, for instance, nee to do day-to-day training to properly get ready. “Based on the practical demonstration we have just seen, we can see how the world has transformed in terms of security policy. Troops of eight nations deployed a wide spectrum of forces to in accomplishing a mission which involved civilians as well. We can see the global trend of unconventional forces attempting to deal severe blows to states and governments", the minister said. He added that the exercise was not directed against anyone but it tried to model a realistic scenario.

According to Dr. István Simicskó, the cooperation among nations has been exemplary, and, as he noted, Hungary – which has recently assumed presidency of the V4 countries – has a great responsibility in the military field too. In his closing remarks, the minister of defence pointed out that our country is a committed ally of NATO, and will always be ready to conduct combined exercises and operations in the interest of security.

In answer to our question, Dr. István Simicskó explained that the migration pressure on Europe entails the closer cooperation of the V4 countries. As he said, he supports the idea of developing some form of closer cooperation with Slovenia and Croatia besides the four nations.

Chief of Defence Gen. Dr. Tibor Benkő pointed out that the soldiers participating in Exercise Brave Warrior 2017 – which falls under the multinational series of exercises Saber Guardian 2017 – have demonstrated that they are able to execute any task under any circumstances. Our existing capabilities guarantee that we can have security. “I am especially proud of our troops, because while they were carrying out this exercise, the Hungarian Defence Forces have been continuously engaging in operations along the borders of Hungary and outside our borders in foreign missions. Of our many-sided tasks, I would like to highlight the mission in Estonia, where a Hungarian infantry company is taking part in a joint training event", the chief of defence underlined.

In closing the display phase of the exercise, Dr. István Simicskó and Gen. Dr. Tibor Benkő said thanks for the more than two-week participation and presented memorial items to the ones who have performed most excellently from among the more than 2000 troops (Polish, Slovak, Czech, Romanian, US, British and Croatian, in addition to Hungarian) of the eight nations participating in the exercise.

Photo: Veronika Dévényi