Major General Denis Tretinjak of Croatia, the outgoing commander, said at the handover ceremony that he had seen the centre grow to realise its goals.

Besides the founding members, Hungary, Croatia and later Slovakia, the centre now has troops from Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Slovenia and Türkiye, with Britain having signalled its intention to cooperate, he added.

Králik, who has been serving at the centre for over a year, thanked his predecessor for his work and said he would continue in the same spirit. Hungarian army chief Gábor Böröndi said MND-C was slated to reach full operational mode by the end of the year, with the Hungarian government providing communication equipment for that purpose.

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