The must-have newsletter about Hungary

BÖRÖNDI AIMS TO BUILD 'CAPABLE, COMMITTED' ARMED FORCES

 

Lieutenant General Gábor Böröndi, who was nominated for Commander of the Hungarian Armed Forces last week, said at his hearing before parliament’s defence and law enforcement committee that his main aim would be the “mental renewal” of the Armed Forces, as well as setting up a capable, committed force that is “operational within NATO too.”
Hungary and Ukraine’s other neighbours are in a “pre-war state”, which should influence the training of its Armed Forces, he said. Hungary’s national army is a well-prepared and well-trained and equipped member of NATO, and the next step is to create a force that is able to exert significant impact on an operational and strategic level, Böröndi said. Voluntary reservists will play an important role in protecting regional strategic points, and cutting off the enemy’s logistical lines, he said. The task requires a flexible approach employing “a flexible unit of local patriots who are protecting their own localities,” he said. Combat training and strategic reconnaissance are key areas, Böröndi said. At the same time, nuclear deterrence must be re-introduced into military education, he said. Logistics must be developed so it can cater for fighting units, he said. Böröndi said he saw missions as a key terrain for assessing the progress in the training of troops.
Előd Novák of the opposition Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) party said that while the aim was to increase the number of troops, the forces had recently relieved of their duties a large number of servicemen as part of a “rejuvenation programme”, suggesting that army commander Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi had been relieved of his duties for similar reasons. In response to Novák’s question, Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, who was also present, said that Ruszin-Szendi had been relieved of his duties “due to the Armed Forces proceeding from tactical to operational mode”.