Within an alliance, it is natural that we can count on one another and that we share our capabilities with each other, since our security is also shared and indivisible”, Csaba Hende said on several occasions during his three-day visit to the Baltic States, which he paid at the invitation of the defence ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Flying aboard an An-26 aircraft (widely known as “Ancsa”) of the Hungarian Defence Forces, the delegation arrived in the winter of Vilnius in a thick fog and a strong following wind which shortened the originally two and a half hour flight by one hour. The minus six degrees Celsius, which counts as mild weather here and the snow-covered city meant a proper acclimatization on the first leg of the journey which gradually got colder (and was to continue in Riga and Tallin).
The primary goal of the three-day visit was to discuss the issues of Baltic Air Policing and the related future task system of the Hungarian Defence Forces. As it is known, at the NATO Summit in Chicago in May 2012 Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that between 2015 and 2018, Hungary also intends to participate with Gripen fighters and their crews in the air policing tasks of the Baltic States, which do not have tactical aircraft capability. Minister of Defence Csaba Hende stated that the Baltic States are extremely grateful to Hungary for this offer.
During the journey the Hungarian Minister of Defence met his counterparts as well as the Lithuanian and Latvian foreign ministers and the members of the defence committees of the national parliaments. All five ministers expressed their thanks to Hungary for its joining the air policing tasks carried out on a rotational basis by NATO member states, which present an increasingly extending task system. The Hungarian Minister of Defence reasserted our country’s commitment to common security, and said it was an honor to Hungary to be assigned air policing duties by the Baltic States in 2015.
All meetings had the current challenges of NATO and the EU on their agenda, including the developing situation in Mali and the international peace support operations, in particular the issues of the Afghanistan mission. It turned out that the Baltic States are similar to Hungary not only from historical aspects but also in the establishment of volunteer reserve systems and the operational presence in Afghanistan, as all three nations are participating in some Provincial Reconstruction Teams, and they are already operating special operations teams in the country as well. The discussions also focused on Exercise Steadfast Jazz, to be conducted in Poland in October this year, which will be special because its scenario will be based on the possibility of invoking Article 5. Besides Poland and the Baltic States, Hungary will also participate in the exercise. Beyond the above, the Latvian partner indicated that it would like to obtain information on the lessons learned in operating the 3D NATO radars, possibly within a visit to Hungary this year.
The program of the delegation included visits to the NATO Energy Security Center of Excellence in Lithuania and to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Center of Excellence in Estonia.
(MTI/Ministry of Defence)
