Service Over the Baltic Countries
Szöveg: Lt. Andor Gyeginszky - Péter Snoj | 2015. szeptember 11. 10:57Having deployed on August 27, the Hungarian Gripens started their service in the Baltic Air Policing Mission on September 1. Since then, the pilots of Kecskemét deployed in Lithuania have taken off on various training missions and had Tango and Alpha scrambles to practice interception and procedures that are indispensable for air policing tasks.
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They have tested the systems of the aircraft and the air control and familiarized themselves with the features of the aerodrome and the airspace structure.
They are in continuous contact with the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC, Uedem, Germany), and in case of alert, the Hungarian team is ready to react quickly and effectively by NATO standards. The first days were taken up with the handover-takeover process. At the end of its tour of duty, the Norwegian contingent moved out of the quick reaction alert (QRA) shed and the Hungarians moved into it.
After the establishment of the CIS infrastructure and occupying the service areas, the Hungarian subunit was soon fully operational. Through their work, the more than 80 Hungarian airmen make sure that the Gripens and their pilots are ready to fly missions day and night, and that the ground crew can perform their duties continuously.
The residents of Siauliai – the fourth largest city in Lithuania with a population of some 100,000 – have a friendly and positive attitude to the Hungarian servicemembers.
Photo: Lt.-Col. Dr. István Toperczer
