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Safeguarding Slovak skies becomes a joint Visegrad Four (V4) project

Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic

12.06.2023

Hungary is joining forces with Czechia and Poland to secure airspace over Slovakia. Today's signing of the Joint Declaration of the Visegrad Group Countries on their Shared Commitment to Protect the Airspace of the Slovak Republic marks the start of a real Visegrad Four (V4) project with participation from the Czech, Polish and Hungarian Air Forces - that speaks to the importance of this regional format of cooperation.

As the Slovak V4 Presidency (July 2022 - June 2023) draws to a close this month, the Declaration, signed by the Defence Ministers of Slovakia, Hungary and Poland and a Deputy Defence Minister of Czechia at the V4 Defence Ministerial in Štrbské Pleso in the High Tatras, comes as practical proof of our alliance being ready to lend selfless assistance to its member until such time as Slovakia's new F-16 fighter jets are delivered from the procurement programme into operational service with the Slovak Air Force, the head of the SVK MOD noted.

Defence Minister Martin Sklenár said: "Until now, we have already concluded such agreements with the Czech Republic and Poland, whose fighter jets have been guarding our airspace for several months now, and I am really pleased that Hungary has officially signed up for this initiative today. So, our neighbours from the V4 will work together and protect Slovak airspace until the end of 2024. I want to say a huge thank you to the countries for their support and contribution. This proves that even in times when one V4 country may find itself in a more difficult situation, we can count on our good neighbours. I believe we will be able to exploit this mechanism and the lessons learned through this initiative even in the future, whenever such necessity arises, whenever required by any V4 member."

Given that this was the last V4 Defence Ministerial meeting under the Slovak V4 Presidency, Minister Sklenár summed up the results that have been achieved over this period. Chief among these is the V4 EU Battlegroup on standby until the end of this June. Other noteworthy examples include work on joint logistics and interchangeability of munitions for artillery guns to make the best of available munitions stocks.

With Ukraine high on the agenda, Ministers spoke about their nations' support to Ukraine so far and efforts to keep up the ongoing supply of arms into the future, as well as about their idea of moving towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict. "The situation in Ukraine has fundamentally changed our security landscape. Therefore, naturally, discussions also reflected on our continued support to Ukraine to see the country through to victory. Even though there is no secret we hold different opinions on how to edge closer towards peace, in every case we made it very clear that peace is our shared goal," Minister Sklenár said.

Speaking about another issue on the agenda - reinvigorating the defence industrial bases, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and National Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said: "As far as our defence industry cooperation is concerned, we are open to any additional opportunities and this is also true for our partners' potential interest in the weapons systems Poland makes, including those anti-aircraft systems being 'combat proven' in operations in Ukraine."

Hungarian Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky underlined the very optimistic and friendly nature of discussions with the defence ministers and the Czech deputy defence minister. "We are truly honoured that Hungary will play a role in protecting Slovak airspace," Defence Minister Szalay-Bobrovniczky said, reminding that, as with Slovakia, Hungary is an active contributor to the strengthening of NATO's Eastern Flank by hosting a NATO Multinational Battlegroup.

Czech Deputy Defence Minister Daniel Blažkovec thanked Defence Minister Martin Sklenár and Slovakia for bringing enthusiasm and professionalism to the programme of activities under the Slovak V4 Presidency, saying: "It is with great pleasure that we will build on this job well done." In this respect, the head of the SVK MOD expressed Slovakia's readiness to support the priorities of the Czech V4 Presidency, starting from 1 July 2023.