The Baltic Air Policing Mission of the Hungarian Defence Forces has reached half-time
Szöveg: 1st Lt. Róbert Tóth | 2019. július 3. 9:31Hungary as a lead nation ensures the air-space defence of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania augmented by of the Spanish and the British air forces from 1st May for four months. In the past two months the HDF Gripens were scrambled twenty times. The scrambles were ordered in all cases because the aircraft having entered the airspace did not have a flight plan, did not make radio contact with the Air Traffic Control Service or they did not use the transponder. Among the intercepted and identified aircraft there was a radio-electronic reconnaissance aircraft, a transport aircraft and also a fighter.
Galéria
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Beyond the air-policing tasks, the Hungarian Defence Forces Baltic Air Policing Quick Reaction Alert Detachment (HDF BAP QRA DET) took part in several exercises, strengthening co-operation with the NATO-forces stationing in the area. In the framework of this, the pilots of the participating nations received training in airspace control, search and rescue, and also air refuelling tasks. Furthermore, they practice those situations, when the contact is lost between an aircraft and the ground control.
The flight training tasks performed jointly with the Spanish and the British air forces in the Baltic region led to a serious professional progress for the detachment. These tasks included tactical, navigational, parade and formation flights, which provided an opportunity for the demonstration of the technical equipment and the capabilities, on the one hand, and they enhanced the local population’s sense of security, on the other.
The Baltic mission of the Hungarian Defence Forces was constantly followed by the domestic and the international press, a number of reports have appeared in the past weeks about the execution of the tasks. The importance of the QRA Detachment in the international co-operation is illustrated by the fact that their activities have been viewed by the Hungarian Ambassador to Latvia, the representatives delegated to NATO Military Council, and moreover by the professors of the US Air Force Air Command and Staff College, too.
Beyond the professional tasks mentioned, the members of the HDF BAP QRA DET personnel having integrating into the life of the local community, and actively participating in the local social and sports events, gained much goodwill for the Hungarian Defence Forces and for NATO.
Photos of Lt.-Col. (Med.) Dr. István Toperczer, HDF BAP QRA DET and the author
