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.
EUFOR: Coordinated Hungarian Rescue Team
14:50 June 11, 2024
Several work fields must be coordinated so that the MEDEVAC capabilities, provided by Hungarian soldiers, in EUFOR Operation Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina can work properly as a perfect machine. Besides the air crew members and the MEDEVAC team, air traffic controllers and members of the engineering support personnel also take the lion’s share in efficient rescue operations.
“I Represent 23 Nations”
16:01 June 7, 2024
Major General László Sticz PhD has been the Commander of the EU’s peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, EUFOR Operation Althea for nearly six months. We asked him about the first half of his one-year assignment.
Hungarian senior officer receives NATO recognition
10:01 June 6, 2024
Transformation through training – this is the motto of the NATO Joint Force Training Centre (NATO JFTC), which is responsible, among others, for combined and national training in the defensive Alliance, for concept development and for the enhancement of interoperability. During a ceremony held to mark the 20th anniversary of the military organization, Lieutenant Colonel Gábor Endrődi, Staff Officer, HOST/Operations Section, JFTC received a certificate of commendation from the chief of staff of NATO’s Allied Command Transformation (ACT) for his outstanding service from September 2022 to August 2023.
Meeting of Finnish and Hungarian Defence Policy Directors
09:56 June 6, 2024
László Hajnik, MoD Deputy State Secretary for Defence Policy, was on an official visit to Helsinki between 16 and 17 May. The goal of the meeting was to continue the defence policy consultation begun last year.
Budapest to Host the New World Athletics Ultimate Championship in 2026
15:47 June 4, 2024
Hungary will host the first World Athletics Ultimate Championship in September 2026, the top event in the season. Sebastian Coe, president of the World Athletics (WA), had a negotiation in person with Dr Ádám Schmidt, State Secretary for Sports of the Ministry of Defence, and they concluded an agreement on the World Athletics Ultimate Championship.
Preparing for the world championship
11:25 June 4, 2024
Training jumps are already in progress for the 46th CISM World Military Parachuting Championship. The members of the five-strong Hungarian national military parachuting team are participating in training camps. The opening of the world championship to be organized in Hungary will be held in downtown Szolnok on 3 July.
CBRN defence troops in live situation
11:17 June 4, 2024
The Serbian–Hungarian military exercise codenamed Purple Field 2024 was recently held in Krusevac, Serbia.
Soldiers from Hódmezővásárhely in the Slovenian Mountains
16:17 June 3, 2024
The Hungarian Defence Forces were represented by the soldiers of the HDF 30th Mechanized Infantry Brigade at the Best Squad Competition, recently organized by the Slovenian Armed Forces.
Overseas support for our reservists
16:14 June 3, 2024
On 30 May, Lieutenant General Attila Takács, Deputy Chief of General Staff for Territorial Defence received Assistant Adjutant General of the Ohio Army National Guard Brigadier General Matthew Scott Woodruff and the delegation headed by him on a courtesy visit.
Hungarian Defence Forces further strengthened with Leopard tanks
16:08 June 3, 2024
The HDF 1st Armored Brigade recently received another two Leopard 2A7HU main battle tanks – announced Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky.