Our Efforts Are Focused on the Troops

Following a reception with military honors Col. Tamás Fürst, the commandant of the HDF BCTC reported to the Defence Minister and the Chief of Defence and other military leaders who accompanied him, informing them about the early history of the BCTC, the location and the purpose of the military training areas and the recent developments at the unit as well as accomplished tasks.

Afterwards the guests had an opportunity to learn about the services of the BCTC. At the first display site Deputy Commandant LTC János Vokla first showed them around the exercise directing staff (DISTAFF) room, then briefed them about the structure of the simulation centre and the possible ways of interoperability with the subsystems. He also informed the guests about the types of exercises that may be conducted with the use of the simulators. Talking about the advantages of the system, he pointed to the importance of preparing after action reviews (AAR) which enable commanders to evaluate the consequences of their good or bad decisions at the ENDEX. The further advantages of simulated computer-assisted exercise (CAX) trainings include the cost-effectiveness of the system, which reduces the environmental load while saving expensive technology and human resource.

Brig-Gen. (Ret.) Ferenc Kálmán, the director of services at the firm operating the system introduced the guests to the essentials of simulation systems and demonstrated their use in practice. He told them that the logistic regiment of Kaposvár was the current training audience at the ongoing exercise, so the centre was supporting the unit with the required role-playing capabilities and prepared an AAR on the mission-specific planning and execution phases.

After the briefing the guests were shown around the control centre of the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES), then watched a demonstration of the MILES 2000 in practice.

The ministerial visit concluded with a staff meeting where Afghanistan, one of today’s topical issues was high on the agenda. Dr. Csaba Hende stressed that “This is currently our most dangerous, top priority mission. We are closely monitoring its progress but the recent course of events requires us to make serious efforts to overcome the shortfall in equipment in due time. The situation has changed a lot since we launched this mission. Today a safe and secure environment is not given any more, so that it is virtually impossible to carry on with peaceful reconstruction. Accordingly, we have been keeping abreast of the changing situation in Afghanistan by contacting our troops several times each day, and will make the decisions for the next period after consulting with our allies", the Defence Minister said.

“Our efforts are focused on the troops, who are the most important actors in the system of national defence", the Minister stated. “Therefore, we intend to work out and introduce a new and transparent career model which will allow us to provide predictable military career paths for everyone from signed-on enlisted men to professional officers. Thus everybody will know the extent of remuneration he or she is to receive in return for meeting the requirements and doing service". , Dr. Csaba Hende added.

The Defence Minister said “We would like to strengthen the Hungarian Defence Forces in all respects over the next few years, in terms of training, military equipment and materiel as well as manpower. Reorganizing the Reserve may be the key to achieving higher levels of manning.

“The erroneous decisions made in recent years have led to a very serious situation in the Hungarian Defence Forces", the Minister stressed. “I have only one hope: wherever I went, so far I have experienced orderliness, discipline and cleanness. The professional service personnel are highly dedicated to executing their tasks, and evidently they are ready and able to do their duty according to their oath. The military leaders present here and also those who are absent now will all be working hard in order to radically alter the currently miserable circumstances in the Hungarian Defence Forces."

Answering a question, the Defence Minister said next year the MoD can spend only very little on the development of military equipment due to the accruals in the budget. Allocating at least 30% of the budget resources would be a realistic target, but in fact the funds earmarked for technological upgrade in 2011 hover around 5%. The Minister stressed that “reinforcing Hungary’s defence capabilities" and training the HDF troops for the related tasks should be a priority for the next period because this is the only way for us to fulfill our commitments and mission-specific engagements. “Once the military of a country meets the requirements of defence capabilities, the forces trained for the national tasks will be ready to deploy in peacekeeping missions as well", Defence Minister Dr. Csaba Hende said.

Text: Ferenc Demeter
Photo: László Tóth