We Can Prepare for a Major European Military Exercise

Minister Hende told MTI that the ministers discussed how, after the withdrawal from
Afghanistan in 2014, the member states of the Alliance – and in addition, the NATO partner
countries – can maintain a level of cooperation which has been established over the last
decade during the joint deployment (interoperability) in Afghanistan.

In order that the lessons learned in Afghanistan will not be lost, the capability of cooperation
should be “preserved for a period when the operational tempo will probably be substantially
lower than today", Minister Hende said. He added that to achieve this goal, they must hold
more extensive joint exercises in greater numbers than before.

Minister Hende informed MTI that on the first day of the ministerial meeting, the participants
reached a consensus about the need for the NATO member states to reinvest in this capability
development the resources that would be saved with the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The
Hungarian Minister added that although no sums or figures were discussed, all participants
agreed that a large-scale exercise should be held in 2015.

The defence ministers took stock of the progress on the implementation of a package of
measures (“Connected Forces Initiative") approved at last year’s Chicago NATO Summit,
which outlines the main directions for the development of NATO forces until 2020.

In a time of financial austerity due to the economic crisis, the North Atlantic Alliance is
striving to achieve as much as possible at the lowest possible costs. A good example of
this is the Pápa-based Heavy Airlift Wing, which was established by pooling the financial
resources of several member states. Speaking about this, Minister Hende noted that French
General Jean-Paul Paloméros – NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation who is
responsible for the strategic concept of military reform within the Alliance – would soon pay
a visit to Pápa.

Hungary is planning to convert the Pápa Air Base into a major NATO aerodrome and at the
same time a “multimodal logistic hub". It intends to open the aerodrome to civil air traffic,
and to implement some related infrastructural projects such as the modernization of the main
road between Győr and Pápa. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is going to
pay a visit to Pápa in this summer.

Photo: nato.int