Cooperative Key Open Day, Szolnok, 1996

Following the collapse of the Warsaw Pact Hungary declared that it wants to be a member of the NATO. One of the steps towards the Organisation was to participate in the Partnership for Peace program. In 1996 a large scale exercise was organised within the structure of the PfP, Exercise Cooperative Key.

The exercise was of humanitarian nature, mainly focusing on disaster relief operations, but it included training to enforce no-fly zones also. The fighter forces were based at Kecskemét, consisting of German, Hungarian and Polish MiG-29s, American F-16s and Spanish Mirage F.1s. All the other assets operated from Szolnok.
On the last day of the exercise during an open day the public had the opportunity to get an insight of the operation. The event was organised as a complex disaster relief exercise, simulating the operations following a heavy earthquake. The spectators could hear professional explanations of every mission flown in Hungarian and English - emphasising that it is not an air show, but the demonstration of the exercise.

The program began with a recce F-16 flyby, to get a quick picture of the devastation. The Viper was followed by a Romanian An-30, to get detailed data. The last step in the recce process was made by paratroopers dropped by a Hungarian An-26.
As an immediate help, an Austrian PC-6 and a Hungarian Mi-8 made firefighter demonstration, followed by low-level food extraction - without parachutes - from a Belgian C-130 for the survivors.
The search-and-rescue missions were flown in two waves. The first one included an MH-53 and Hungarian Mi-8s simultaneously. The second wave consisted of German UH-1s, Slovenian AB-412s, Romanian Pumas, Polish W-3 Anakonda and Czech Mi-8.

The Americans demonstrated the use of behind-the-lines refuelling of their MH-53 also. It would have been followed by a French C-160 air to air refuelling flight, but it had to be cancelled because of the strong gusts.
The last part of the open day was a flyby of the fighters from Kecskemét - the first team consisted of a German, a Polish and a Hungarian MiG-29 each, escorted by an Aviano F-16. These fighters were followed by a pair of Spanish Mirages, ending the small, but very interesting show.

The success of the exercise was probably an important step in the process which ended in 1999, Hungary's invitation to the NATO.