Commander of Hungarian Defence Forces visits major military exercise in Turkey

Due to its massive scale, the Turkish Exercise EFES 2022 is a joint exercise covering the full spectrum of the armed forces. In 2016, it was organized with the participation of just six countries, whereas in 2018 it was already joined by 20 ones, and this year it involves 37 nations, among them Hungarian troops from the Hungarian Defence Forces Command.

The main objectives of the exercise are to train the participating troops in planning and conducting joint operations and to develop interoperability, that is, the most effective cooperation and task execution among the services. The exercise gives a major role to testing and improving fundamental principles, techniques, tactics and capabilities of the military vehicles and weapons in service with the armies, air forces and navies of the participating nations. Its further important aspects are the planning of logistics support, cyber defence – which involves the testing of protective measures against cyberattacks –, the development of defence against asymmetric threats and of cooperation and coordination with governmental institutions and NGOs.

On the day before the exercise, Lieutenant General Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi PhD first visited NATO’s Allied Land Command (LANDCOM) in Izmir, where he had discussions with LANDCOM Deputy Commander Lieutenant General Nicola Zanelli and with LANDCOM Chief of Staff Major General Mustafa Oğuz. In what followed, the commander of the HDF attended a staff meeting in the company of Brigadier General Péter Lippai, Land Forces Inspector at the Service Inspectorate of the Hungarian Defence Forces Command and Major General Nándor Kilián, Air Force Inspector of the Hungarian Defence Forces. In addition to some issues concerning them, the lieutenant general informed the Hungarian troops serving in Turkey about the present and future tasks of the Hungarian Defence Forces.

Lieutenant General Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi PhD also had a closed-door discussion with General Yaşar Güler, the Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish armed forces. High on the agenda of this meeting were the Russo-Ukrainian War, the importance and current state of the Balkan region, the significance and future of Turkish–Hungarian military-to-military relations as well as the success of the forms of joint defence industry cooperation.