A network of relations taking shape

The guests were received by Colonel Ákos Kreácsik, the commander of the ISR unit, who told them about the history of the HDF 2nd ISR Regiment, its system of tasks and equipment, leadership structure, the currently ongoing developments, and also talked about the regiment’s international engagement and system of relations.

Through the training programs held by its personnel, the regiment plays an important role in ensuring that the units of the Hungarian Defence Forces have the necessary ISR capabilities. At a static display on the parade ground of Kossuth Lajos barracks, Debrecen, the attachés met and talked to the soldiers of the regiment while being introduced to the ISR equipment of the unit – among them, Skylark drones and brand-new, specially designed Toyota Hilux motor vehicles fitted with reconnaissance systems.

“I was pleased to receive the attachés’ visit, because we would like expand the circle of our participants with further nations in the case of our international ISR and HUMINT exercises. This meeting provided us with a good opportunity to offer the attachés a glimpse of these possibilities and introduce them to our activities” – said Colonel Ákos Kreácsik.

In the second half of their visit, Lieutenant Colonel András Fekete, the principal of the Kratochvil Károly Honvéd Secondary School and Dormitory informed the guests about the workings of the educational institution. The attachés were listening with great interest to the afternoon presentation about the life of the honvéd secondary school, just like they were in the morning the one about the ISR regiment. They asked many questions, since the provision of proper personnel supply poses a serious challenge to the armed forces of all nations. They approved of several key elements in the Hungarian system of defence education.

Lieutenant Colonel Fekete told the guests that the students of the honvéd secondary school are not obliged to choose a military career. While pursuing their studies at the top level of the Defence Cadet Program, they acquire a lot of useful additional knowledge and important skills, and enrich themselves with values for a lifetime. Many of them join the Hungarian Defence Forces in growing proportions, but the rest of the students are also important to the system, because they arrive in civilian life with an understanding and knowledge of national defence, and they can support it at several points by working in the defence industry, for example.

During a “tour” of the Kratochvil, the attachés saw the dormitory and met the cadets, of whom the re-enactors of the school were waiting for them in WWI and WWII uniforms at a period weapon display. They saw the cadets’ martial arts demo in the sports hall, and also saw them proving their skills while crawling, climbing, jumping and running on an obstacle course in the schoolyard. The laser simulation shooting became a joint program, so the students and the guests took firing positions.

“Over a decade, we have accumulated many experiences in the field of patriotic defence education that we can share with other countries. Our country has a strong international system of relations anyway. We are pleased to be able to support the military representatives of those nations that may not have such form of education or have a different system” – said School Principal Lieutenant Colonel András Fekete.

On behalf of the Budapest Military Attaché Corps, Swedish Defence Attaché Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Fredriksson thanked the commander of the ISR regiment and the principal of the honvéd secondary school for their reception and the useful professional information.

“Our troops are currently executing special tasks in an international operational environment in Kosovo as part of the KFOR Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Battalion (ISRBN)” – said Colonel Ákos Kreácsik, Commander, HDF 2nd ISR Regiment.

“We are working to strengthen our international relations. It is extremely important for us to be able to see how soldiers of other nations perform their activities, so that we can broaden and develop our existing knowledge. For example, our cooperation is very good with the 8th Reconnaissance Battalion of the German Armed Forces, as a result of which our soldiers were invited to participate in Exercise Golden Serve in Germany, and we also received German servicemembers at our international ISR exercise Strong Will. Let me point out that we have close and excellent relationship with the Oradea-based NATO HUMINT Centre of Excellence in the field of HUMINT education and training programs. The significance of this lies in the fact that on exercises and operations alike, we must be able to execute our tasks and cooperate with troops of other member states in line with NATO procedures. We run our programs of instruction by NATO standards, our instructors have acquired the necessary knowledge” – emphasized Colonel Kreácsik.