General Dr. Gábor Böröndi
16:43 May 2, 2023G e n e r a l G á b o r B Ö R Ö N D I P h D .
Chief of Defence Staff - Hungarian Defence Forces
Born in Kaposvár on 6th April 1971, General Gábor Böröndi PhD. is married with three children. Having graduated at Kossuth Lajos Military Academy in 1992, as a mechanized infantry officer, he was posted to the 26th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Lenti, where he served as the Platoon Leader, Company Commander and Battalion Executive Officer in consecutive order. In 1996, on leaving Lenti to his new position at the 4th Mechanized Division Command, located in Székesfehérvár, he began his studies at the Faculty of Law at the University of Miskolc and graduated in 2001.
Beginning in 1997, he was deployed to the UNFICYP HQ as OPS officer for a one-year period. His career continued at the Ministry of Defence (Budapest) between 1999 and 2006. During this phase, he was promoted to Major, then Lieutenant Colonel and finally Colonel reaching the position of Head of Department of Defence Planning through the position of the Head Secretariat of State Secretary. He served his second tour in 2002 when deployed to SFOR MSU as LNO. In 2003, he was selected to deploy as the first Hungarian soldier in Afghanistan to ISAF HQ as J-3 OPS officer. For a brief time, by utilizing his own experiences gained abroad, he led the PSO Department of the Operations Command Centre of the Hungarian Defence Forces.
In 2007, he was assigned to be the Deputy Commander of the 5th Bocskai István Infantry Brigade, located in Debrecen. The same year, he started his 2nd tour in Afghanistan at the ISAF HQ as HUN NMR. In 2009, he took over the Commander position of the 5th Bocskai István Light Infantry Brigade. He was appointed to be the Chief of Land Forces (Deputy Commander) of the Joint Force Command of the Hungarian Defence Forces in 2013. In 2017, he completed his studies at the National War College of National Defence University in Washington, USA. From 2018 as Major General, he served as the Chief J-3, (Deputy Chief of Defence for Operations) General Staff of the Hungarian Defence Forces until his appointment to Deputy Commander of the Hungarian Defence Forces (DCHOD) with the rank of Lieutenant General, in 2019.
In the summer of 2021, he was appointed to the Military Representative of Hungary to the NATO and EU, which took up to his new assignment to Hungarian Chief of Defence Staff on 4th May 2023. On the recommendation of the Minister of Defence he was promoted to the rank of General on 20th August 2023. Between 2017-2021, he was responsible for developing the Digital Soldier Program while he was the Military Supervisor of the Zrínyi Defence and Military Development Program.
General Böröndi’s national and international decorations and awards, among numerous, including the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic Knight’s Cross, the Order of Merit of France and the Legion of Merit of The United States of America.
Personnel Recovery in Tempest
13:02 April 2, 2026
Three weeks spent in an uninhabited forested area, at most a couple hours of sleep on end, food deprivation for up to several days, shelter-building from one own’s equipment, water purification, practical shooting, close quarters combat – this is how Charlie, the top-level course in Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training can be summed up in a few words. During the course, Hungarian soldiers practiced air extraction in Csobánka on 30 March.
Tuned to Exercise
12:17 April 2, 2026
Preparation for Exercise Moonstar 2026 is still going on at the Hajdúhadház-based Vay Ádám Training and Exercise Area and Shooting Range. Reservists of the 5th Territorial Defence Battalion of the HDF 2nd Territorial Defence Regiment participated in a three-day training program to improve their marksmanship skills.
They have returned home from Bosnia and Herzegovina
12:09 April 2, 2026
“The performance you gave during your tour of duty abroad well exemplifies Hungarian military expertise and camaraderie” – this was how Brigadier General Zsolt Molnár praised the homecoming personnel of the 29th rotation of the HDF EUFOR Contingent. At their homecoming ceremony held in Szentes, the Depuy Commander (Land) of the HDF Joint Force Command (HDF JFC) handed over recognitions to soldiers returning home from their service in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Preparing for collective defence on Exercise Loyal Leda 2026
12:27 March 31, 2026
A significant number of Hungarian soldiers participated in NATO’s multinational Exercise Loyal Leda 2026, which served the operational training of the corps headquarters of the Alliance. Held between 3–12 March in the areas of nine allied member nations, the training event was controlled by the NATO Joint Force Training Centre located in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Target Destroyed
11:24 March 31, 2026
The crews of the 1st Grenadier Battalion’s 2nd company of the HDF 30th Mechanized Infantry Brigade have recently been forged on combat-like live fire exercises (LFX). The company had to react to enemy targets with its own crews according to the tactical situation, both day and night.
The Middle East is Still on Fire; We Can Feel the Effects Here as Well
13:21 March 27, 2026
Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky wrote on his social media page that, with regard to the current security situation, he had a discussion over the phone with the defence ministers of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, during which he was informed firsthand about the effects of the war in Iran, as well as its regional and global consequences.
Rearranging power relations, transforming warfare
12:58 March 27, 2026
The Space & Defense Festival has brought together in Budapest the key players of domestic and international defence and space industry. “The power relations are rearranging, and we must react to the transformation of warfare and the changing security situation” – emphasized General Dr. Gábor Böröndi, Chief of HDF Defence Staff in his lecture. “To ensure their strategic autonomy, the establishment of proper space capability is indispensable for any country” – stated László Deme, MoD Deputy State Secretary for Force Development and Innovation in summing up the development of the armed forces.
Hungarian general assumes duties as DCOM EUFOR Operation Althea
15:59 March 23, 2026
Brigadier General Bálint Legoza has taken over the lead of EUFOR Operation Althea, the European Union’s peacekeeping operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the next months, two Hungarian generals will be serving concurrently in the leadership of the mission, as Brigadier General Tibor Szabó will be performing his duties as chief of staff until May.
In Alliance: German NATO bases in focus
14:33 March 23, 2026
Major General László Sticz PhD, National Military Representative of Hungary at the NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) recently visited logistic commands and commands responsible for air control tasks.
Hungarian officer attends air defence training in the USA
14:28 March 23, 2026
Lieutenant Milán Kacsmarik, an officer of the HDF 205th Air Defence Regiment recently participated in the Air Defense Artillery Basic Officer Leader Course (ADA BOLC) organized for US Air Defense Artillery (ADA) officers at the Fires Center of Excellence, Fort Sill army training base, Oklahoma, USA. The objective of the almost two-month training was to prepare young officers for their Air and Missile Defense (AMD) Platoon Leader position, while providing them with a comprehensive picture of the core leadership principles and professional tasks of this branch of service.