The Hungarian Defence Forces have officially been declared able and qualified to use the full range of so-called Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) capability, as both NATO and the United States of America have accredited the Hungarian JTAC capability, among the first ones in the world. The Ministry of Defence received the certificate this week.

With this new capability, Hungarian troops can interoperate with NATO aircrafts, which enhances the effectiveness of task execution and the Hungarian soldiers’ Force Protection level while carrying out various operational missions. In the different theatres of war around the world – where among others, Hungarian soldiers serve dedicatedly – during their operational deployment, the land forces units in direct contact with the enemy need this capability to be able to request Close Air Support (CAS) or other types of air support in order to protect their own forces and complete their combat missions with success.

The use of this new capability is a milestone also with regard to territorial defence, since JTACs can directly communicate with Hungarian aircrafts, including the Gripen fighters, attack and transport helicopters.

Joint Terminal Attack Controllers are the “eyes” of aircrafts during air-to-ground operations. They have a very complex mission, since even under difficult circumstances, they must control with great precision aircrafts flying at altitudes of several thousand kilometers or the helicopters placed on standby in covered positions.

The Hungarian Defence Forces have been using some elements of Joint Terminal Attack Control capability in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan for some years. Thanks to the successful accreditation, from now on Hungarian soldiers can provide autonomous training and assessment as well.

The units of the Hungarian Defence Forces demonstrated the operation of the Joint Terminal Attack Control system in practice by executing complex tasks in the morning of Monday, November 26.

(Ministry of Defence)