NATO International Day in Sicily

The Hungarian families prepared with an expanded stand for the international day, where they gave a taste of the Hungarian gastronomy and Hungary’s tourist attractions. The Hungarian contingent found it especially important to mark worthily the 75th anniversary of NATO and the 25th anniversary of Hungary’s NATO membership.

The visitors to the Hungarian stand could learn about military technology devices procured during the constant modernization of the Hungarian armed forces. They also had the opportunity to gain insight into the details of the HDF’s international engagements in the past 25 years.

On the occasion of the NATO ISR Force International Day, more than 2,000 people visited the stands of 17 countries, representing their national specialties and traditions.

The event was also attended by Brigadier General Dr. József Koller, defence, military and air attaché accredited to Italy. Besides the international day, the goal of the visit to Sicily was to participate in the professional demonstration of the Naval Air Station Sigonella.

Within the framework of the professional day, NATO’s leading ISR sub-unit, its wide-range professional work, unique organizational structure and UAV (drone) reconnaissance fleet were introduced.

Brigadier General Andrew M. Clark, American Commander of the NATO ISR Force received general Koller with great delight. During the informal meeting, general Clark introduced the history of the creation of the program, supported by 25 countries, and the current capabilities. They talked about the future possibilities and the directions of the current capability development, then the commander praised the professional work, preparedness and community activity of the Hungarian contingent.

After the detailed presentation about the unit by Major Koch, Senior National Representative (SNR) of the Hungarian contingent in Sicily, Brigadier General Koller learned about the professional activity of the Hungarian soldiers in Sicily from the training field through the air engineering and air operation fields to the reconnaissance image analysing work. The fleet of the unit consists of uniquely designed RQ-4D Global Hawk drones, also called “Phoenix”, the unique capabilities of which were also introduced during the professional day.