The NATO DEEP working group is meeting in Budapest

The DEEP Programme, recognizing Hungary's achievements in the institutional development and the transformation of the national defence NCO training system, as well as the efforts of previous years for the NATO non-commissioned officer capability development, requested the Ministry of National Defence that Hungary provide a venue for the NATO DEEP NCO Professional Military Education Reference Curriculum Review Workshop #2.

"The Hungarian non-commissioned officers participate as experts in support of the non-commissioned officer development programmes of NATO and its partner countries", said SGM Dezső Kalamár, an expert of the NATO DEEP Programme, to our inquiry. He emphasized: "We have to take into account that the security situation in the world had changed. This three-day workshop is about giving the partner countries guidance that is adapted to the current security environment through an updated document in view of the current situation. It is a complex curriculum that every country can use in its own education system."

The goal of the NATO DEEP from Hungary's point of view is to transfer the experience gained so far to the representatives of other countries, as well as to build new relationships, which they can use for their own development.

SGM Ludek Kolesa, NCO Coordinator of the NATO DEEP Programme, when asked why this working group meeting is important, said: “It is crucial to build interoperability amongst nations, in order to jointly prepare for the challenges of the future. In addition to education, the DEEP Programme also helps nations in the development of their own national NCO system.”

The thirty experts from eighteen countries, Allies and partners, participating in this project are senior non-commissioned officers responsible for curriculum development serving in their own education systems. The leaders of the Hungarian Ministry of Defence and the Hungarian Defence Forces have been supporting the NATO DEEP Programme since the beginning.