On Thursday, June 21 Defence Minister Csaba Hende and Lt.-Gen. Dr. Zoltán Orosz, the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff visited the NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, Germany.

While at the base, Csaba Hende and Zoltán Orosz watched the display flight of the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, which is equipped with a long-range radar. This aircraft is able to fly surveillance missions to control the air traffic – primarily military air traffic – within a radius of several hundred kilometers in the airspace. Due to its several thousand meter flight altitude, the curvature and terrain features of the earth cause far fewer problems with the detection of airplanes, which is a great advantage over ground-based radars. Moreover, the system is mobile so it can be deployed at any site around the globe.

In 1999, Hungary was granted an observer status in NATO’s Airborne Early Warning and Control Programme Management Organisation (NAPMO), then became a full member of it in December, 2005. Accordingly, initially four Hungarian Air Force personnel began work at the E-3A Component in Geilenkirchen in the summer of 2006, and later they were joined by another seven HuAF personnel.

AWACS is playing a role in the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, as the host nations have requested the Boeing E-3A fleet to provide air surveillance and control capability in their airspace. The Hungarian Defence Forces are also performing tasks in this mission, having been requested by NATO to join the counter-terrorist work during the championship. The Veszprém “Rock” (Control and Reporting Center, CRC) receives recognized air pictures (RAPs) from the Ukraine and Poland and transmits them to the NATO operating authorities.

(Ministry of Defence)