On October 26, the Austrian Armed Forces traditionally presented themselves on National Day as part of the 27th Performance and Information Show at Heldenplatz, Am Hof and the Burgtheater in Vienna. The motto of this year’s show was “Mission Forward”. The Austrian Armed Forces were able to present their capabilities to the public on this day. A total of around 720,000 people visited the exhibition on October 25 (Schools Day) and October 26.
“In recent years, our army has achieved incredible things. Just think of the countless natural disasters or the the corona pandemicwhere our army did and gave everything to help. That was important, important for Austria and therefore for all of us. But now we have to get back to our core tasks. The main task is to defend our country with our weapons – as soldiers,” says Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner.
The national holiday began with the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at Heldenplatz by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and the Federal Government. The Austrian Armed Forces presented themselves in seven themed areas such as “Protection of the population”, “Disaster relief”, “Air surveillance”, “National defense”, “Operations abroad”, “Career opportunities” and “Careers in the militia”. Among other things, equipment such as a Black Hawk, an Alouette III, a Leopard 2A4 main battle tank, an Ulan infantry fighting vehicle but also a Mammut decontamination system could be marveled at.
Other highlights included the presentation of the Militia Award to the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber by Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner and the militia commissioner, Major General Erwin Hameseder, for outstanding services to the militia. The prize was accepted by Karlheinz Kopf, Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce. In addition, ten flights in an S-70 Black Hawk multi-purpose helicopter were raffled off. The winners of these flights flew from Heldenplatz via Vienna to Brumowski Air Base in Langenlebarn, Lower Austria. More than 1,000 soldiers, including two female soldiers, took their oath of allegiance at Heldenplatz in Vienna. Defense Minister Tanner congratulated the young soldiers and wished them an interesting period of service in the Austrian Armed Forces and good luck as soldiers.
