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.
Lords of the Sky
15:22 July 15, 2024
Seven days of intense competition, outstanding sports results, changing wind, old and new friendships – the 46th CISM World Military Parachuting Championship in Szolnok has ended. The Hungarian national team has achieved a really nice result as it won the bronze medal in the team accuracy landing category, while Warrant Officer Tamás Varga from the HDF 86th Helicopter Wing Special Parachuting Training Centre came in second in individual accuracy landing.
Champions of the Air on the Podium
15:10 July 15, 2024
“During the past few days, we witnessed a competition where the most excellent paratroopers of the world were competing to test their preparedness and technical skills, and they have brought us the excitement and beauty of this special sport.” – this was how Lieutenant General Ferenc Kajári, Deputy Chief, HDF General Staff said farewell to the participants of the 46th CISM World Military Parachuting Championship at the RepTár in Szolnok on 12 July. The national sports teams of more than 30 countries whose members performed best in the overall results lined up to stand on the podium and worthily say goodbye to the ten days they had spent in Hungary, rich in experiences and successes.
Hungarian and American SOF soldiers conduct joint exercise
14:13 July 15, 2024
The joint exercise of Hungarian and American Special Operations Forces (SOF) groups has recently ended. This time, the emphasis was on the execution of complex tactical tasks. The participants also separately practiced a number of important procedures, for example, parachute jumps.
General Dr. Gábor Böröndi holds discussion with U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
14:07 July 15, 2024
Within the framework of the NATO Summit in Washington D. C., General Dr. Gábor Böröndi, Chief of HDF General Staff held a discussion with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U. S. General Charles Q. Brown Jr. General Brown met with eight chiefs of defence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to discuss with them the challenges ahead of NATO.
They have arrived for a stormy live firing exercise
13:59 July 15, 2024
The foreign units participating in Exercise Jolly Vihar 24 – the 56th and 57th Rescue Squadrons and the 56th Rescue Generation Squadron of the U.S. Air Force – have arrived at the Hungarian Defence Forces 47th Air Base in Pápa, Hungary.
Twenty-three Military Athletes at the Paris Olympics
13:54 July 15, 2024
The Hungarian national team participating in the Paris Olympic Games recently took the Olympic Oath in Budapest two and a half weeks before the opening ceremony, to be held on 26 July. During the oath, Captain Tamás Lőrincz, Olympic champion wrestler of the HDF Sports Company, held the Hungarian flag as among the 180 Hungarian participants, 23 military athletes will represent Hungary in the French capital.
NATO is ready and able to defend itself and its members
12:21 July 15, 2024
NATO is still the world’s strongest defence alliance, which is ready and able to defend itself and its members, the defence minister said after the summit of NATO heads of state and government in Washington, DC, adding that in 2024, the 75th year of its existence, the defence Alliance has to face more numerous and significant security challenges than ever before.
NATO Medal for Hungarian soldiers serving in Iraq
08:51 July 10, 2024
The Hungarian soldiers serving with the Signals Support Group (SSG) of the NATO Mission Iraq Headquarters (NMI HQ) received their NATO Mission Iraq Non-Article 5 medals at the end of their four-and-a-half-month tour of duty in Baghdad on 5 July.
The Goal is Always the Podium
16:23 July 5, 2024
Hungary is a country full of sports talents and it can also be seen in the Hungarian Defence Forces as the parachuting team is among the best in the world, said Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence Tamás Vargha in Szolnok on 3 July.
EU Presidency: Responsibility and Unique Opportunity at Once for the Hungarian Defence Forces from the Strategic Level to the Tactical One
13:07 July 5, 2024
Hungary is taking over the presidency of the Council of the European Union in a critical period when we have to navigate in a complex security environment and when defence is occupying a distinguished place in the EU’s agenda, said General Dr. Gábor Böröndi, Chief of HDF General Staff, at the Embassy of Hungary in Brussels on Wednesday, 3 July. Upon the proposal of the Hungarian presidency, the representatives of the EU Military Committee will not negotiate in Brussels but in a member state for the first time in the EU’s history; thus, Hungary will host this high-ranking event in October.