Close Cooperation Among the V4 Territorial Defence Commanders
Text: First Lieutenant Dr. József Krausz | Photo: Reserve First Lieutenant Attila Pekola, First Lieutenant Beáta Sárkány | 15:02 November 24, 2025Hungary holds the presidency in the Visegrád Group and hosts various events at different levels from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. Among the common goals is synchronizing the long-term cooperation of member states, which also involves the field of defence policy. The HDF Territorial Defence and Military Augmentation Command (HDF TDMAC) – similarly to its legal predecessor organizations – is committed to creating and maintaining good relations with the territorial defence and reserve forces of neighbouring countries and states of the region.
Exercise Moonstar 2025, which took place in Hungary and provided training for altogether 150 Hungarian–Polish–Slovak reservists, was a good opportunity for the V4 territorial defence commanders to meet.
The event was hosted by the Kratochvil Károly Honvéd Secondary School and Dormitory in Debrecen. The Polish delegation was headed by Marcin Siudziňski, appointed brigadier general on the National Independence Day of Poland, 11 November. The Slovak military was represented by Brigadier General Jozef Ševčík, while the Hungarian Defence Forces by the host, Colonel Zsolt Vantal, Chief of Staff, HDF TDMAC.
The conference aimed at strengthening the cooperation among territorial defence and reserve forces of the V4 countries. During the professional presentations, Colonel Zsolt Vantal introduced the structure, task system and operating order of the HDF TDMAC. In what followed, Major Gergely Domokos informed the participants about the training system of the volunteer reserve forces, while Lieutenant Colonel György Vrancsik about the deployment of territorial defence forces and units. Brigadier General Jozef Ševčík shared his experiences regarding the Slovak reserve system in his presentation entitled “Concept of the Sustainability of the National Defence Forces”.
The event also served to build bilateral relations of the V4 countries’ territorial defence sub-units. Within this framework, the Slovak Armed Forces 82nd Joint Support Brigade and the HDF 1st Territorial Defence Regiment got in touch and started to cooperate. Thanks to this, existing professional relations of the HDF and the member countries are also expanded, as relations between the Polish 11th Territorial Defence Brigade and the HDF 2nd Territorial Defence Regiment date back years.
After the conference, complemented by the delegations of Croatia and Slovenia, the commanders observed the events of the closing day of the multinational reservist Exercise Moonstar 2025.
