Hungary to Patrol Slovakia's Skies Together with Poland and Czech Republic
Hungary will protect Slovakia's airspace together with Poland and the Czech Republic.
Strbske Pleso, June 12 (TASR) - Hungary will protect Slovakia's airspace together with Poland and the Czech Republic.
Slovak Defence Minister Martin Sklenar signed the Visegrad Four's (V4 - Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) declaration on this commitment with Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, Czech Deputy Defence Minister Daniel Blazkovec and Hungarian Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky at Strbske Pleso on Monday.
"Until now, we have had such an agreement with Poland and the Czech Republic - these partners have been patrolling our skies for several months. I am glad that we managed to find an agreement with Hungary on the way of its engagement in this initiative as well," said the Slovak defence minister. He said that Slovakia can count on using the capacities and aircraft of all three countries until December 31, 2024. "As long as the ordered F-16 aircraft don't arrive in Slovakia and won't be able to perform all tasks related to the protection of our airspace," added Sklenar.
Slovakia has signed long-term cooperation agreements in the field of military aviation with all the V4 partners. The allies took over the protection of Slovakia's skies after its MiG-29 fighters were grounded. Slovakia is currently awaiting a delayed delivery of new F-16 fighter jets, with the first four of them set to arrive next year.
Mutual cooperation and evaluation of the ending Slovak presidency of the V4, which Slovakia will hand over to its Czech colleagues, was high on the agenda of the V4 negotiations in High Tatras.