New Capability in the Hungarian Defence Forces

With this new capability, the Hungarian troops can interoperate with the NATO aircraft, which enhances the effectiveness of task execution and the Hungarian soldiers’ Force Protection level while carrying out different operational missions. In the various theatres of war around the world – where among others, Hungarian soldiers give dedicated service – during their operational deployment, the units of the land forces in contact with the enemy need this capability to be able to request Close Air Support (CAS) or other types of air support in order to protect their own forces and complete their combat missions with success.

The use of this new capability is a milestone with regard to territorial defence as well, because JTACs can directly communicate with the Hungarian aircraft, including the Gripen fighters as well as the attack and transport helicopters.

Joint Terminal Attack Controllers are the “eyes" of aircraft during air-to-ground operations. They have a very complex mission, as even under difficult circumstances, they must control with very great precision the aircraft flying at altitudes of several thousand kilometers or the helicopters placed on standby in covered positions.

The Hungarian Defence Forces have been using some elements of Joint Terminal Attack Control capability in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan for years. Thanks to the successful accreditation, from now on the Hungarian soldiers can provide autonomous training and assessment as well. Therefore, the obtainment of the accreditation is a real milestone in the process of expanding the capabilities of the Hungarian Defence Forces. The opportunity has opened for the Hungarian Defence Forces to develop the JTAC within national and regional frameworks, because Hungarian trainers and a supervisor are also available. The Hungarian JTAC capability maximally meets both the American and the NATO standards.

The units of the Hungarian Defence Forces demonstrated the operation of the Joint Terminal Attack Control system in practice by executing complex tasks in the morning of Monday, November 26.