Between January 16 and 18, Minister of Defence Csaba Hende is paying a three-day visit to the Baltic states at the invitation of the defence ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, accompanied by Lt.-Gen. Dr. Zoltán Orosz, the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff.

During his visit, he will meet his partners as well as the members of the defence committees of the Lithuanian and Latvian parliaments and the Estonian chief of defence. Press release.

The primary goal of the visit and the meetings is to survey the future task system of the Hungarian Defence Forces with regard to the Baltic Air Policing mission. At the NATO Summit in Chicago in May 2012, Hungary announced that – thanks to the modification of the Gripen lease agreement – by contributing Gripens as well as aircrews and ground crews, between 2015 and 2018 it can participate in the air policing mission in the Baltic countries which do not have tactical aircraft capability.

The topics of the discussions will also include the engagement in international operations such as the roles in Afghanistan and the Balkans, as well as the current state of the Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) program (the Pápa-based C-17 fleet) in which Lithuania and Estonia are also participating.

(MoD Press Office)