Hungarian Defence Forces

The Hungarian Defence Forces is the national <a href="/facts/Armed_forces/kgNmLUnN">defence force</a> of <a href="/facts/Hungary/YRedQLtI">Hungary</a>. Since 2007, the Hungarian Armed Forces has been under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains political and civil control over the army. A subordinate Joint Forces Command coordinates and commands the HDF corps. In 2020, the armed forces had 22,700 personnel on active duty. In 2019, military spending was $1.904 billion, about 1.22% of the country's GDP, well below the NATO target of 2%. In 2016, the government adopted a resolution in which it pledged to increase defence spending to 2.0% of GDP and the number of active personnel to 37,650 by 2026.
<a href="/facts/Military_service/pPQqAhDk">Military service</a> is voluntary, though <a href="/facts/Conscription/SstkxdBk">conscription</a> may occur in wartime. In a significant move for modernization, Hungary decided in 2001 to buy 14 <a href="/facts/JAS_39_Gripen/VFRd1les">JAS 39 Gripen</a> fighter aircraft for about €800 million. It also bought two used Airbus A319 and two Falcon 7X transport aircraft. Three C-17 III Globemaster transport aircraft are operating from Pápa Air Base under Hungarian nationality mark but are maintained by the NATO <a href="/facts/Heavy_Airlift_Wing/MImHD9qL">Heavy Airlift Wing</a> (HAW). An intensive modernization program started in 2016 under the name "Zrínyi 2026". New helicopters, tanks, IFVs and artillery equipment were purchased beside others. Hungarian National Cyber Security Center was re-organized in 2016.
As of 2016, the Hungarian military has about 700 troops stationed in foreign countries as part of international peacekeeping forces, including 100 HDF troops in the <a href="/facts/NATO/dCeTddMY">NATO</a>-led <a href="/facts/ISAF/ujbozm50">ISAF</a> force in <a href="/facts/Afghanistan/v63Auu1C">Afghanistan</a>, 210 Hungarian soldiers in <a href="/facts/Kosovo/lbyzI6UW">Kosovo</a> under command of <a href="/facts/Kosovo_Force/73LYIooD">KFOR</a>, and 160 troops in <a href="/facts/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina/jNVA1gPB">Bosnia and Herzegovina</a>. Hungary sent a 300-strong logistics unit to Iraq in order to help the US occupation with armed transport convoys, though public opinion opposed the country's participation in the war. One soldier was <a href="/facts/Killed_in_action/REgutspw">killed in action</a> by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
During the <a href="/facts/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1848/rqjq06g4">Hungarian Revolution of 1848</a>, the HDF drove Habsburg forces from the country in the <a href="/facts/Spring_Campaign/CaLLKape">Spring Campaign</a> of 1849, but was defeated by an Austro-Russian offensive in the summer. The <a href="/facts/Royal_Hungarian_Honv%C3%A9d/TT9bcv6l">Royal Hungarian Honvéd</a> was established in 1868. During World War I, out of the eight million men mobilized by <a href="/facts/Austria-Hungary/9WPUPj0W">Austria-Hungary</a>, over one million died. <a href="/facts/Conscription/SstkxdBk">Conscription</a> was introduced on a national basis in 1939. The peacetime strength of the <a href="/facts/Royal_Hungarian_Army/SIn9h7xI">Royal Hungarian Army</a> grew to 80,000 men organized into seven corps commands. During World War II the <a href="/facts/Hungarian_Second_Army/7LusHlRr">Hungarian Second Army</a> was destroyed on the banks of the <a href="/facts/Don_River_(Russia)/a1cjNMXQ">Don River</a> in December 1942 in the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Stalingrad/Xc0okJKQ">Battle of Stalingrad</a>. During the Socialist and the <a href="/facts/Warsaw_Pact/SLEsUSAS">Warsaw Pact</a> era (1947–1989), the entire 200,000 strong <a href="/facts/Southern_Group_of_Forces/UdoKKAMA">Southern Group of Forces</a> was garrisoned in Hungary, complete with artillery, tank regiments, air force and missile troops with nuclear weapons.

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Hungarian Defence Forces