International military exercise involves entirety of Hungarian Armed Forces

The Adaptive Hussars 23 international military exercise involves the entirety of the Hungarian Armed Forces, Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said in Hajdúhadház on Monday.

The military exercise is the largest in Hungary in the last 30 years, Szalay-Bobrovniczky told a press conference before inspecting the exercise, calling it a test for the Hungarian Armed Forces, cooperation with allies and Hungarian public administration.

“This test is going very well so far, but we, of course, have to wait till the end before drawing the final conclusions,” the minister said.

The objective of the exercise is to test the military’s readiness for and response to an imagined situation threatening Hungary’s security, the minister said. It also tests the capabilities of civilian public administration when it comes to troop movements and logistics, he added.

Szalay-Bobrovniczky emphasised the importance of testing the ability to cooperate with allies, noting that several NATO forces were also taking part in the exercise.

He noted that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had also inspected certain elements of the exercise on Monday, namely a bridge-building exercise at Tiszaroff and a jump exercise of Italian and Hungarian paratroopers in Nyíregyháza.

Adaptive Hussars 23 involves around 5,000 Hungarian troops, including 500 reservists, he said.

Armed Forces Commander Gábor Böröndi said the exercise involved land, air and maritime forces. The air defence system has been activated, and the air and ground forces are moving, he said. “This is test of the preparations we’ve made over the past years,” he added.

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