Reporting from Estonia

Szöveg: honvedelem.hu | 2014. október 2. 9:00

The Estonian Defence Forces are based on professional armed forces, compulsory military service and the all-volunteer Estonian Defence League. Soldiers of one Estonian battalion are deployed in various international military operations around the globe, and there are several NATO-run installations in the area of the country.

Galéria

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The around 3000-strong military, which comprises two brigades, a navy and an air force, is augmented with around 3,200 young conscripts every year. Estionian reserve units are about 60,000 strong and can be fully equipped if needed. Apart from them, 21,000 civilians, the members of the Kaitseliit (Estonian Defence League) are also proficient in handling their weapons kept at home. This organization also operates under the jurisdiction of the Estonian Ministry of Defence.

Estonia is the host country of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, where an international team – including a Hungarian lieutenant-colonel – conducts research and produces forecasts, as its director told us. The fighters to fly Baltic Air Policing patrols take off from Ämari Air Base. Currently, German Eurofighters are conducting this mission, but next year the Hungarian Gripes will arrive in the region. With an international staff and students, the Baltic Defence College operates in Tartu, the educational centre of the country.

At the annual congress of the European Military Press Association (EMPA), we learned these things and many other details about the Estonians – who consider Hungarians their distant relatives – and the Estonian Defence Forces.