Following Slovakia’s donation of their 13 Mig-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, Hungary is stepping up to join the protection of the Slovak Republic’s airspace.
A political agreement is being put in place to secure cooperation between the Visegrad Four countries, to be discussed in a June meeting between the V4 defence ministers.
“The Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic is already working to ensure the protection of Slovak airspace in 2024 in cooperation with the Czech Republic, Poland and also Hungary,” said
Martina Kakaščíková, spokeswoman for the ministry.
The move follows the pattern of international cooperation which saw Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Belgium, and Italy provide air support to the Baltic States, who have no air defence of their own, last year. The contingent of four Hungarian fighter jets controlling the Baltic airspace was alerted 19 times during the mission, taking off 246 times and logging 304 flight hours. In all cases, alarms were triggered by the appearance of unidentified Russian aircraft.
Slovakia, which now has no airforce of its own, has recently ordered new 4+ generation fighter jets from the United States. “According to the current agreement, the first four F-16 Block 70 aircraft should be delivered to Slovakia during 2024,” Kakaščíková added.
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Slovak air space protection
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