Start of Exercise Tobruq Legacy 2017

Tobruq Legacy 2017 – a multinational surface-based air defence (SBAD) tactical exercise, together with the related live firing phase Tobruq Arrow – ranks among the largest-scale air defence training events in the period since Hungary’s accession to NATO in 1999. This year, it will take place as part of the high-visibility exercise Saber Guardian 2017. The most important objective of Tobruq Legacy has not changed for years, which is to create interoperability among participating nations in terms of technology and common operating procedures, and to develop capabilities in the common system.

After the 2015 and 2016 editions held in the Czech Republic and Slovakia respectively, it is the third time that the Győr unit is participating in the Tobruq Legacy exercise series. Of course, the training event is continuously taking shape, and this year’s special feature is that – unlike on previous occasions – outside the main venue of the exercise, the forces are deployed in another two countries as well, namely a NATO Surface-Based Air Defence Operations Center (SBADOC) in Romania and a Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) in Lithuania. Hungary sends primary training audience and observers to all three venues, but the largest contingent is, of course, operating in the Czech Republic.

Led by Lt.-Col. Tibor Matyi, the acting commander of the Győr unit and National Contingent Commander Lt.-Col. Norbert Tóth, the Hungarian Ground-Based Air Defence (GBAD) Task Force left Likócs barracks in the morning of 10 July. After covering a distance of more than 500 kilometers, the soldiers of the SAM unit executed rail unloading and a road march to the designated base, attended briefings and occupied their accommodations provided by the hosts. They did not have much time for acclimatization, because on the following day, the participants had to reconnoiter the fielded elements in the order of battle, run the system checks, and attend the opening ceremony.

Soldiers of six nations (the USA, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hungary, Great Britain, Slovakia) paraded for the ceremony held in the Hradiste Training Area near Karlovi Vary, but the training event involves 10 countries altogether (beyond the above-mentioned ones, Slovenia, Romania, Latvia and Poland). With its close to 100-strong task force, Hungary is represented with the second largest contingent on the exercise.

Having integrated into the exercise, the platoon-strong MISTRAL GBAD TF from Győr is operating alongside a Lithuanian RBS-70 platoon under the command of a Hungarian-led battery command post during the next two weeks. In addition to the exercise and the related on-site training, in the coming days, the red-beret Hungarian troops will also be preparing for the NATO TACEVAL before they crown their summer activities with a live tactical fire (TACFIRE) on 19 July.

Photos by the author