AIR DEFENCE IN ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES

The Ministry of Defence would not continue its acquisitions of Mistral air defence missile batteries and there had been no serious measures to provide the enemy-friend recognition systems necessary to use these missiles in NATO though these weapons were badly needed in Hungarian air defence, István Simicskó MP (Fidesz) announced yesterday.

He paid a visit to the garrison of the air defence missile brigade in Győr. At the end of the ’nineties it was promised that more than ten Mistral missile batteries would be bought but the army has only three of them. The spokesman of the Ministry of Defence said it was not sure that the tender for more missiles would be won by the French Mistral company but they were planning to buy the necessary enemy-friend recognition system for the missiles.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó