Major General Zoltán Somogyi
15:53 July 18, 2023Brigadier General Zoltán Somogyi was born on 27th February 1974 in Fehérgyarmat. He began his military service in August 1992 at the Military Command Collage in Szentendre. He graduated as an artillery officer with a BSc in Land Surveying Engineering in 1996. He served 8 years in a various artillery officer assignments including 4 years as Battery Commander within the HDF 5th Mechanized Infantry Brigade 5th Self Propelled Artillery Battalion in Debrecen. During his artillery officer carrier, he successfully completed the Battery Commander Course of the German Bundeswehr and gathered experiences also in the field of rocket artillery. In 2003 he was deployed to the position of the 2nd Company Commander of the Hungarian Guard and Security Battalion, KFOR Kosovo and in 2004 he assumed command of the Hungarian Guard and Security Contingent, KFOR Skopje.
In 2007, he was appointed to the position of Hungarian Joint Force Command J3 Staff Officer in Székesfehérvár and he was promoted to Major. In 2009, he was assigned as a Liaison Officer to the German Operations Command in Potsdam and to the German MOD Planning Staff in Berlin focused on Hungarian contribution to ISAF operation. In 2010, he graduated from the National Defense University with MSc degree in Military Leadership. In 2012 he graduated the 7th German National Joint Admiral and General Staff Course at the Bundeswehr Command & Staff Collage in Hamburg. Following that, he was appointed to the position of the Military Assistant to the Chief of Land Forces of the Hungarian Joint Force Command and he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. From 2013 to 2016, he served as the Head of Combat Support Branch G3 HDF JFC.
During this assignment in 2013-2014 he was deployed for seven months to Afghanistan as a senior advisor and head of a brigade level advisory team. In 2016, he was assigned to the position of Chief G37 HDF Joint Force Command. In 2017, his next appointment was at HDF JFC where he held the post of Chief J3/ACOS Operations and was promoted to the rank of Colonel.
From August 2018 he started and led the planning project of Headquarters Multinational Division Centre. He was appointed to Chief of Staff of the Headquarters Multinational Division Centre on 01 June 2020 and he was promoted to his current rank on the 20th of August 2020.
12 May 2022 – 17 May 2023 he served as Chief of Staff of EUFOR Force HQ in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Since 15 July 2023 he has been assuming the position Director of the General Staff Hungarian Defence Forces.
He is married to his wife Beatrix and lives in Várpalota.
Country defence Exercise Adaptive Hussars 2025 shows guarantee of security of Hungarian people
14:25 September 26, 2025
As the largest-scale military maneuvers since the regime change, country defence Exercise Adaptive Hussars 2025 shows the guarantee of the security of Hungarian people – emphasized Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky in the Hungarian Defence Forces Central Training Area and Shooting Range, near Hajmáskér in his speech delivered on the Distinguished Visitors’ (DV) Day, 25 September.
ADHU 25: Reservists in the Focus
13:51 September 26, 2025
The HDF 4th Territorial Defence Regiment is playing a significant role in the pre-planned, joint and whole-of-government defence exercise Adaptive Hussars 2025, held within NATO frameworks. Our photo selection shows what kind of tasks reservists received.
The Hungarian-Egyptian Joint Military Committee held its third meeting in Budapest
10:34 September 26, 2025
The future prospects of our defense relations and the mutual assessment of our successfully delivered military programmes over the past year constituted the main topics for discussion at the third meeting of the Hungarian-Egyptian Joint Military Committee (MJC) organized in Budapest on September 24-25. The Hungarian delegation at the committee meeting was led by Colonel István Hajnal, Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Defense, whilst the Egyptian military delegation was led by Brigadier General Sameeh Yahia Hamed Khodier, Egyptian Co-Chair of the MJC.
Turkish Soldiers Join Exercise Adaptive Hussars 2025
13:39 September 25, 2025
Besides Hungarian servicemembers, other nations’ forces also participate in the pre-planned, joint and whole-of-government defence exercise Adaptive Hussars 2025, held within NATO frameworks.
ADHU 25: Preparedness on All Levels
12:57 September 25, 2025
The Hungarian Defence Forces prepared with a professional day and a rehearsal for the visitors’ day of Exercise Adaptive Hussars 2025. One of the most complex, largest-strength phases of the pre-planned, joint and whole-of-government country defence exercise was held at the HDF Central Training and Shooting Range, where land, air and special operations forces introduced joint, combined-arms combat, together with international allies. General Dr. Gábor Böröndi, Chief of the HDF Defence Staff, told us, in relation to task execution, that the Hungarian Defence Forces introduced their whole spectrum, from the tactical to the strategic level.
They Finished Second Place
11:28 September 25, 2025
The national parachute team of the Hungarian Defence Forces came in second at the 2025 Skydive World Cup Series in total. The sixth, and closing, competition was held in Locarno, Switzerland, with the participation of more than 200 parachutists from 22 countries.
The security of Central Europe is one and indivisible
15:07 September 23, 2025
The security of Central Europe is one and indivisible, so the only way for us is to join forces to be able to successfully tackle the challenges of the age – declared Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky in Bratislava, following the Annual Meeting of the Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) Ministers together with the Ministers of the Western Balkans.
The Sky is the Limit – SHAPE National Military Representative Visits Ramstein
16:07 September 22, 2025
Major General Dr. László Sticz, Hungary’s National Military Representative to NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) recently had a discussion about special developments at Ramstein Air Base.
Survival at the Baltic Sea
16:01 September 22, 2025
An international sea survival exercise codenamed Baltic Bikini 2025 was recently held in the Baltics, Klaipėda Region, Lithuania. The exercise aimed at improving pilots’ and aircrew members’ survival skills in an aquatic environment. This year’s exercise was special because, besides Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian participants, two Hungarian Gripen pilots also participated.
Joint Hungarian–North Macedonian SOF exercise
13:30 September 22, 2025
As part of the defence Exercise Adaptive Hussars 2025 organized within the framework of NATO, Hungarian Special Operations Forces (SOF) soldiers held a joint training program with the allied North Macedonian forces. The main objective of the one-week Cold Peak 2025 was to develop their rapid reaction capabilities – with regrouping in a foreign environment. Together with his counterpart, North Macedonian Chief of Defence Major General Saško Lafčiski, General Dr. Gábor Böröndi, Chief of HDF Defence Staff also observed the training in North Macedonia, which was conducted with the aim of assisting cooperation within NATO.