Harmonizing doctrines in Budapest

In his opening speech, Major General Dr. László Sticz highlighted the outstanding importance of doctrine development in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Hungarian Defence Forces (HDF). The Russo-Ukrainian War and the emerging war situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip well represent the continuously increasing security, social and economic threats, while the dynamically changing security environment and the new domains and procedures of operations require the military alliance to swiftly and flexibly adapt to them in terms of military technology and procedures.

“Doctrines and standards are the means that maximize coherence and interoperability among NATO allies and partners, so the primary objective of the NATO Allied Joint Doctrine Development Course is to provide doctrine custodians and developers with a uniform approach in developing operational procedures”, said the major general.

The general noted that in the recent weeks, the Szentendre-based command led by him had celebrated the first birthday of its establishment as the legal successor to the HDF Transformation Command with a legal status of other, higher-level command.

In his reply speech, American Lieutenant Colonel Tom Mallinson, a representative of the joint field office of the NATO Standardization Office said thanks to the unit for its outstanding work in the complex organization process, and praised the significant interest shown in the course.

This course is currently the single form of education in NATO for the training of doctrine custodians and developers. “The main objective of the course is to synchronize, on the level of NATO and the allies, the doctrines and concepts under way that have already been prepared at home under the aegis of the nations, and to compare those lessons that the given nations have learned at home, during their own activities. Practically speaking, we would like to compile a doctrinal process system that points in a unified direction and strengthens the efficacy of the doctrine and concept development capability of the Alliance”, said Major General Dr. László Sticz after the opening of the course. The major general told us that altogether 22 foreign participants from five NATO member countries and ten NATO organizations had arrived in Hungary to take the course, whereas the Hungarian Defence Forces are being represented by four personnel coming from a multinational organization and Hungarian medium-level military command elements.

This year is the first one when the NATO Allied Joint Doctrine Development Course has been organized not only in April, according to traditions, but also in October.