Major General Zoltán Somogyi
15:53 July 18, 2023Major 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.
Leopards and Lynxes on a collective hunt
14:37 May 19, 2025
A milestone in the history of the Hungarian Defence Forces: for the first time, an armored patrol from Tata and a grenadier platoon from Hódmezővásárhely took part in a joint training event with Leopard 2A7HU main battle tanks and Lynx infantry fighting vehicles. Evolving cooperation is the first step towards combined-arms capability development. The joint training exercises are to continue this year.
Security and Europe’s defence are paramount
14:27 May 19, 2025
Almost one month before the key NATO Hague Summit, chiefs of defence of the North Atlantic Alliance and then those of the European Union met in Brussels to discuss the security situation in Europe, with special regard to the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Pilgrimage is the Force of Cleansing
11:55 May 16, 2025
More than two hundred Hungarian military pilgrims are participating in the 65th International Military Pilgrimage to Lourdes, Southwest France, said Brigadier General Tibor Berta, Catholic Military Bishop, at the holy mass held in the Chapel Notre Dame of the place of worship on 15 May.
Reservists conduct joint Hungarian-American live fire exercise
11:23 May 16, 2025
Reservists from four territorial defence regiments of the Hungarian Defence Forces are holding a joint live fire exercise together with the members of the Ohio National Guard at Bakonykúti shooting range. Brigadier General László Drót, Commander, HDF Territorial Defence and Military Augmentation Command told us that a Hungarian company and an American platoon are participating in the live fire exercise of Exercise Valiant Panther 2025.
The First Leguan 2HU Bridge Layer Has Arrived in Tata
11:11 May 16, 2025
“Well-trained, ready-for-action Hungarian soldiers, high-tech armoured vehicles – that’s what we are talking about”, wrote Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky on his social media page after, together with the arrival of three other Leopard 2A7HU main battle tanks, the first Leguan 2HU bridge layer also arrived at the HDF 1st Armoured Brigade. With the new engineering capability of the armour corps, the Land Forces of the HDF are further strengthened.
Drones, training programs, cyber warfare
11:43 May 12, 2025
The Hungarian and Azerbaijani militaries are planning to hold joint training programs, exchanges of lessons learned and technological cooperation in key areas of future warfare, such as drone technology, cyber security and special operations. This was what General Dr. Gábor Böröndi, Chief of HDF Defence Staff agreed on with the military leaders of the Caucasian republic during his official visit to Azerbaijan.
Italian job
11:35 May 12, 2025
As part of the NATO Forward Land Force Battle Group (NATO FLF BG), the Italian comrades of the HDF 11th Motorized Infantry Brigade recently exercised in Hajdúsámson. Last week the subunit put its Close Quarters Battle (CQB) capabilities to the test under realistic circumstances.
Hungarian–Austrian cooperation in focus
10:27 May 12, 2025
“On the geopolitical level, Austria’s position is complex as it is an EU member state, but is not part of NATO, our defence alliance. However, our Western neighbor takes security challenges seriously” – that’s why General Dr. Gábor Böröndi, Chief of HDF Defence Staff held discussions with his Austrian counterpart, General Rudolf Striedinger in Salzburg.
Domestic development for strengthening collective European defence
12:13 May 9, 2025
One topic on the agenda of the Space & Defense Summit held in Budapest was the enhancement of European defence capability, to which Hungary intends to contribute, among others, through the strengthening of Hungarian defence industry. “Our long-term goal is to be able to support the Hungarian servicemembers’ combat readiness with as many domestically developed and produced assets and services as possible” – stated MoD State Secretary for Force Development and Defence Policy Dr. Zsolt Kutnyánszky at the professional event.
Hungarian companies are present in international defence industry
13:10 May 7, 2025
The success of our domestic defence industry companies is important to the Hungarian economy and the Hungarian Defence Forces – said Defence Minister of Hungary Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky about the Defence Exhibition Athens (DEFEA).