Hungarian Gripen fighters are to provide the protection of unified NATO airspace not only over Hungary as in accordance with the plans Slovenia, which has no fighter capabilities, has been in our area of responsibility since the beginning of this year – Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet reports on Thursday.

If an aircraft violates Slovenian airspace it is not Italian fighters that will take off and clarify the situation – as they did previously – but the Hungarian planes. After lengthy a coordination process the political intentions were outlined several times by the involved parties although, according to Magyar Nemzet, there are still a few bureaucratic obstacles to overcome. Then the most expensive domestic defence procurement project can prove its effectiveness in NATO as well.

The Slovenia mission will be fairly simple as it can be flown by the Hungarian fighters from their home base. In fact it is as if their area of responsibility had been extended. The air patrolling in the airspace of the Baltic states, scheduled from 2015, will be a much more complex task because it will involve the deployment and operation of four of the Hungarian Gripens and their crews in Lithuania simultaneously with the fulfilment of their commitments to the protection of the airspace of Hungary, – Magyar Nemzet reports.

(Ministry of Defence)