ADHU 25: Riverine warship training starts in Budapest with the participation of American and Hungarian troops

Six American and 9 Hungarian soldiers (the latter drawn from the HDF Special Operations Command) participated in the first day of the two-week training, using their high-speed and high-firepower Special Operations Craft – Riverine (SOC-R) commissioned in August to maneuver on the river section.

Started on 1 September 2025, Exercise Adaptive Hussars 2025 is the largest-scale and most complex military operation in Hungary since the regime change. During the weekslong exercise – that is being conducted on the national and the Alliance levels – the whole personnel of the Hungarian Defence Forces are carrying out coordinated operations with NATO command elements and allied forces stationed in Hungary.

The joint exercise involves all services across the whole spectrum of the Hungarian Defence Forces, which are conducting the phases together, in cooperation with organizations and experts of the civil public administration and the defence administration in the interest of the defence of Hungary.

With their entering service, the SOC-R patrol boats significantly increase the riverine and littoral operational capabilities of the Hungarian Defence Forces. Thanks to their high speed, massive firepower and versatility, they improve the SOF reaction capability and efficiency, and their interoperability within the NATO Alliance.

Thanks to the successful training, the HDF Special Operations Command will be enriched with such capabilities the use of which, when complemented with lessons learned on Exercise Adaptive Hussars 2025, open up new dimensions in the field of planning and executing military operations and maneuvers. The procurement of these patrol boats was a milestone in the armed forces development program of the Hungarian Defence Forces.

Cooperation between Hungarian and American SOFs started in 2021 with their first joint riverine training on River Danube. Since then, they have conducted several joint exercises with the objective of standardizing operational procedures and developing ship steering skills. In 2024, in the water training area of Szentes, a series of intensive training sessions took place with the active participation of the US Navy Special Boat Team 22 (SBT-22). The training audience carried out, among others, tactical tasks as well as basic steering and troubleshooting procedures.

The primary function of the SOC-R boats is the insertion and extraction of Special Operations Task Units (SOTUs) in waterborne environments, even with firefight. Besides, they can be used for close fire support missions, deployment of SOF troops, as well as for intelligence and reconnaissance, for delivering general and medical supplies, evacuating casualties, securing riverbanks and riverine areas and patrolling.