Chief of HDF Defence Staff travels to France

Orion 2026 is a large-scale joint exercise led by the French armed forces. Its objective is to prepare for high-intensity warfare against enemies with almost identical capability. This is at once the largest-scale military exercise of the French armed forces since the end of the Cold War.

“In today’s security environment, we consider it highly significant that Alliance forces can prepare at combined exercises at joint exercises, under real-world circumstances for high-intensity operations” – said General Dr. Böröndi.

“It is important to see how our allies integrate conventional and new elements of warfare because first-handt experience can help us in consciously shaping targeted domestic developments” – said the Chief of Defence, adding that in the recent period, the French–Hungarian military cooperation was building primarily within a multinational framework involving NATO and the European Union, with special regard to joint exercises and the development of interoperability.

The exercise, which fundamentally extends to the central part of France and its Atlantic coastline, covers the entire spectrum of modern warfare: besides land, air and maritime operations, it also encompasses cyberspace, electromagnetic warfare as well as the space component. One of the key objectives is to develop joint operational command, rapid reaction capability and interoperability among NATO Allies.

Running from January to April, the exercise involves approximately 12,000 servicemembers from France and another 24 nations – NATO member states and countries allied with them –, thus it provides an important platform for strengthening cooperation among the participants, and helps the more effective execution of NATO’s collective defence tasks.

In a key April phase of Orion 2026, several thousand troops, some 1800 combat vehicles, dozens of helicopters and hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles are exercising together under NATO command.

The Distinguished Visitors’ Day provided the invited military guests with the opportunity to learn about the operational procedures used during the exercise, and gain an insight into multinational operations. During the day, General Dr. Gábor Böröndi conducted informal discussions with his French host, General Fabien Mandon, with his Luxembourgian colleague General Steve Thull and with General Ingo Gerhartz, Commander, NATO Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFCBS).