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The establishment of the Permanent Structured Co-operation (PESCO) in defence in 2017 is one of the most important European initiatives of recent years, aiming at enhancing effectiveness in addressing security challenges and advancing towards further integrating defence cooperation within the EU framework. The article describes the genesis of PESCO and explains its functioning, including its legal framework, objectives, the role of the main actors and the dynamics of the whole process. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the scope and strength of the more binding commitments that the participating Member States have decided to fulfil in the name of strengthening Europe's defence under the umbrella of the Common Security and Defence Policy.

The article continues explanation basic operational terms, familiarizes readers with true theoretical fundamentals of the key element of operational design - the decisive point. Basic doctrinal interpretations are described and explained. Its introduction and utilization is visible during the operational planning process and elaboration of operational design. The concept of decisive point has a close connection to the other concepts, namely lines of operations, the centre of gravity and the end state. The concept is further evolved via example of peace support military operation planning process. Key words: decisive points, decisive conditions, lines of operations, centre of gravity, effect, kinetic, nonkinetic operations, doctrine.

The editorial board of Vojenské rozhledy Journal presents an article by General Staff Colonel (plk. gšt.) Tomáš Novotný, currently the Chief of the Department of Strategic Planning (J-5) of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic. This article was published in HORYZONTY BEZPIECZEŃSTWA Nr 8 (3) 2017 and it is available online at http://www.prawo.uni.opole.pl/horyzonty_bezp/Nr_8(3)_2017.pdf. The article is very closely linked to the subject of the contribution published in Vojenské rozhledy 3/2019, entitled "Religious Extremism as a Cause of Armed Conflicts: Indicators and Early Warning Systems", and in a certain way it defines its theoretical foundations.
This article briefly describes and puts together conclusions of the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute' key publications, which were released within the transformation of the Security Studies at the turn of the millennium, with conclusions of the UN Human Security Concept that was successfully institutionalized in 2012. Afterwards, the "Copenhagen School" methodology was applied on the UN Human Security Concept to identify a set of human security challenges and threats, which have been - after analysis of their causal relationship - supplemented by a causal classification. Most security threats create a causal link with one or more other security threats. This fact implies that there is a possibility to create a causal model (mental, graphic, etc.) of any security threat to simulate or to predict the consequences and successfulness / efectivity of a suggested security solution (securitizating or de-securitizating). As a practical subject of a security threat causal analysis was used the model of processes on the way "from a state failure to a terrorism manifestation" adapted to contemporaty situation in the European Union.

Rocket technology occupies an elite position in the doctrines of hybrid actors in the Middle East. The thesis of proliferation of tactical ballistic missiles analyses four models - political, technological, substitutional and propagandist-psychological. An effective reduction of ballistic missiles and technologies has been identified in the political model, where sanctions and embargoes limit the proliferation of missile technology. In the technical model, which plays a key role, the limiting factors are those of development and dissemination of high-energy laser weapons. The substitutional model illustrates the application of tactical ballistic missiles as carriers for improvised devices. It is of marginal importance, despite covering targets that involve secondary damage. Studying the model of propaganda and psychology confirms the psychological effect on the population associated with the losses, but it does not affect the reduction of missiles.

Article deals with new insights into the Alliance missions for the upcoming period of five to ten years that are to be conditioned by achieving higher level of future military capabilities for provision of defence and security within the Alliance and its Partners. Some initiatives are described that are needed to be implemented to achieve the required capabilities and also necessary resources and process measures imposed to the Alliance member states and the Alliance as a whole are indicated. The new Strategic Concept aims to define NATO as a modernized Alliance and a cooperative team player in a globalized world. It gives a comprehensive framework for preserving the core ideals of NATO while transforming it into a dynamic Alliance capable of confronting the unconventional and unpredictable threats that define today's international security environment. The article refers to the ideas and thoughts mentioned in a study of the US NDU's Center for Technology and National Security Policy.

The Polish Military Police, among others, includes a specialized force. It is made up of three specialized units which are trained and prepared to operate in small diversified teams even in high risk environment. Each member is a professional in the field of special operations. They undergo arduous training in first aid, rescue operations, parachuting and diving. All members attend English courses, so that they could be easily integrated into a higher multinational force. Functions and tasks of the those specialized units also consist in ensuring observance of military discipline; protection of life, health and property; VIP protection; protection of public security and order, detection of crimes and misdemeanours, pursuit of perpetrators; enforcing observance of law and order and administrative regulations. The concept of Specialized Units covers operational engagement outside Polish territory, in peace and stabilization operations. In the nearest future, one of the most significant challenges facing this formation will be the necessity to undertake effective measures against terrorism, biological, chemical or nuclear terrorist attacks.

On May 15, 2012, the Czech Defence Minister decided to establish the Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies. The institution of this type has been long awaited, with great expectations. The author, director of this institute, presents the survey of similar scholarly institutions founded and finally cancelled in this country after 1989. This article introduces the original intent of its founders, namely Centre's future role in the development of strategic studies as a starting point for strategic management, its place in the system of Czech military education and training. The results reached by this institute ought to be truly utilized by MoD leaders and government officials.

All-inclusive attitude of NATO forces assumes that conflict can't be solved only by military means. This shift from purely soldierly level to political brought around numbers of Alliance activities at Strategical and Operational Commands. The common denominator was the philosophy of complex approach in operational thinking, planning, and implementing NATO activities. As a result the operational SACEUR's directive GOP was substituted by its revised successor-the so-called Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive (COPD). It is going to be introduced in 2011 and will influence groups and military persons at all levels of warfare, dealing with operational planning and operational art for art's sake. The article familiarizes readers with this directive (COPD) as a tool for comprehensive approach to operations. The COPD offers more deliberate and inclusive planning procedures that allow for both military and non-military actors broader understanding of operational environment and better cooperation in their common effort.

The paper deals with present state of military transportation and theoretical solutions of transportation problem. Author cites some existing tasks in the branch of military transportation and transportation in the field of supplies of technical material, foodstuff and groceries. The article is accompanied by two graphs and several tables with examples of variants military transportation. This field of study is planned for both Bc, MA, and Ph.D. levels at Defence University Brno.

The European Union is interested in ensuring the security of African countries in the region of Sahel because some of the threats originating from this region can potentially endanger its member states. With the deteriorating situation in northern Mali, the EU has decided to become more active in this country through Common Security and Defence Policy missions. The aim of this article is to introduce and subsequently assess the contemporary policy of EU in Mali. Particular attention will be paid to the European Union Training Mission in Mali and European Union Capacity Building Mission in Mali, which have so far produced rather mixed results. The article will also focus on the EU strategy in the Sahel region and partly on the EU counterterrorist and counterinsurgency activities in Mali.

The main topic and focus of this article is to identify the most relevant indicators of the rise of religious extremism as an important cause of armed conflicts. A religiously motivated conflict is a relevant topic in modern security studies and research. Conflict prevention using the early-warning indicators identified in this article might be interesting for the security expert community. In the article chosen methodology is available with the recommendation to following research in the examined field.

At the time of forming the team around a designated defence minister Alexander Vondra, in the early summer 2010, there was no doubt that we need a complex concept document, able to analyze and describe the then situation, to readjust directions and goals for defence department, so that it could stimulate the follow-up transformation of Czech Army. The author, who used to be one of the leading Defence Ministry officials, thus made use of his experiences he gained in NATO structures. He gives an apt, well-founded, and first hand description of key points of this very fresh military history.

Research into the use of structured analytical techniques has shown that analysts use specific structured techniques to achieve better analysis results than using traditional intuitive approaches. The experiment was based on solving the analytical tasks of two intelligence scenarios in a set of 32 people. To verify the null hypothesis, a chi-square test of independence was performed at a 5% significance level. In the control/intuitive and experimental/structured technique groups, responses were evaluated in four criteria, in an overall qualitative intelligence analysis, in rank corps, depending on the time of service and education. The number of correct answers was the highest in the experimental group when dealing with the intelligence analysis criteria for both scenarios. Improved analysis of the experimental group in the second scenario solution was statistically significant. The null hypothesis, using structured methodology improves qualitative intelligence analysis, is not rejected. In the experiment, other test criteria are below than the critical value. The results of the research have shown that the success of the problem solution is influenced by the correct use of the Hypothesis Testing technique. The use of structured techniques depends on the level of knowledge and the type of intelligence problem. At the same time, the conduct of research has shown the influence of analysts' cognitive biases.

The paper analyses goals of the Slovak and German foreign and security policy focused on their role in NATO as well as on the role by forming European security and defence policy. The paper deals with potential and opportunities for more intensive and effective cooperation between Slovakia and Germany regarding their security and defence policy orientation. It finds out that there are some important NATO and EU projects and initiatives, such as "out of area" missions engagement, battle groups building, Framework Nations Concept or a new announced project Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) to be used in the deepening process of Slovak-German security and defence relations.

The article polemize against the content of the article "Operational Art" that was published in the previous issue of this Czech Military Review, 3/2011. The polemics points out that the author of the criticized article applied doctrinally incorrect terminology, he did not respect the valid standards of the military terminology and is cross-indexing to the old Allied standards. Such articles should present new lessons from field theory and practice, which would contribute to the professional preparedness of the military personnel, and to the required interoperability with our coalition partners. But according to the authors, criticized article is rather misleading. Key words: operational art, operations, operational concept, center of gravity.

The overall purpose of this paper is to describe the ways the Alliance and the also the Czech Army will apply the operational art tenets, conducting operations in the future. The current military problems cannot be solved without a deep understanding and knowledge of operational art. In order to improve military thinking within the Czech Army, it is recommended to study and apply operational art. The operational art forms a bridge between strategy defining the political aims of war and tactics, fighting the battles. Commanders and staff officers should study operational art seriously, systematically and with all their efforts. The author deals with current state of present operational art to inform on new developments in this field of military art. The article broadens the vision and deepens the insights of its readers. All information and data for this paper were drawn from unclassified sources.

Army personnel are ranked according to level, from the lowest (privates, sergeants, WOs) to the highest (officers, generals). A total of 80 per cent of professional soldiers, in lowest ranks, are hired at labour market. They form the core of our military personnel, so that they have to be properly taken care of. But in ours, we have still the mentality of mass armies of cold-war period. There have been professional armed forces in the Czech Republic for more than five years, nevertheless the question how to build up the other rank corps is still opened. This article deals with this problem and the method how to cope with the need to form more professionalized NCOs. Broadly speaking, it is the question of the quality overpassing the quantity. Author insists that the British model of NCO's career path should be easily applied into the Czech Armed Forces to get rid of the obsolete recruiting related more to a model of conscription forces.

The paper deals with the professional development of cyber security corps. In the introduction the individual elements that are active in cyber security are described. Strategic analysis of the education is carried out to define the initial state. The main part of the paper is devoted to the design of the education system. The individual elements are defined in the paper, and the model of relationships between these elements is shaped. The attachment contains complete set of topics and their classification into the strands to fulfil the profile of the cyber security expert.

In the last academic year (2005-2006), language instructors at the Defence Univerzity polled 673 respondents in order to find and analyze, among others, the relation between the length of their English studies and the STANAG levels they acquired. Another question they were involved is the age of respondents and the level of Standardized Language Profile. SPL level corresponds to the frequency of usage of English in their military practice. There are also relations among various types of English language: general English, technical English and military English. The latter is the most important for chiefs of staff, whereas technical English is more suitable for soldiers in lower ranks and specialists, less for members of military staffs. Those who took part in foreign missions reached higher level of language proficiency.

The main goal of this article is to depict the role of postcolonial theory of neo-colonialism in the development of the security situation in Afghanistan. The introductory part is devoted to defining the postcolonial approach. This part is followed by a definition of neo-colonialism as a modern form of continuation of colonialism. The next part is focused on the role of neo-colonialism itself in Afghanistan, in relation to the influence and interests of the USA. In addition, the paper outlines the main security implications as well as the distortions of Afghanistan's regional actors (Pakistan and India) as a result of US engagement in the region. The final part summarizes the essential information in the context of the theoretical requirements and signs of neo-colonialism in relation to the activities of the US and other state actors in Afghanistan and the region.

The article provides partial results of the research Strategic Analysis Methods applicable within the Defence Department of the Czech Republic. This research addresses a low level of use of strategic analysis methods in the development of strategic and conceptual documents of the department. In the years 2017 and 2018, interviews with the processors of these documents were carried out and the problems related to the use of strategic analysis methods in sector planning were analysed. In particular, the article analyses the content and utilization process of stakeholder analysis method, SWOT analysis, future scenarios, benchmarking and GAP analysis.

The paper deals with the process of radicalization in the armed forces in Central Europe, with specific focus on the Czech Armed Forces and the Bundeswehr. The author conceptualizes radicalization as a recent security threat and explains the specifics of the use of this concept in the armed forces. The most important historical legacies are identified and the current development cases and trends are analyzed and compared, including the specifics of various streams of extremism. Possible recommendations how to counter radicalization are included in the paper.

The article brings a "Condition-If-Then" construct as a proven protocol for writing risk statement and its application into assessing risks related to capability gaps identified during the defense planning processAuthors discuss utility of "Common approach" and "Impact averse approach" to risk rank ordering as a tool for ordering risks according to their importance. Using the discussed tools enables the planners to run risk assessment that sets preconditions for prioritizing the Force Development Options (FDOs) and for minimizing the impact of capability gaps on conduct of future operations. The ORAMF and the application of the given protocol for writing risks are some of the building blocks of the defense planning process, offering a toolset for reinforcement of the defense planning of the Czech Republic.

The author summarizes present-day knowledge of this problem. Worms and viruses have transformed to serious security challenges and perfect instruments of cyber espionage. They have become a tool in information warfare. Cyberattacks transformed to risks calling only for technical responses. The growing awareness of the seriousness of the cyber-threat is enhanced by incidents, e.g. the malware "Stuxnet" attacking the Iranian nuclear programme. Actually, cyber space is regarded as a fifth dimension of military deployment, apart for land, air, water, and cosmos. Some nations are already investing massively in cyber capabilities that can be used for military purposes. Most Western nations have considerably stepped up their defences in recent years and are forming special units for cyber warfare.

The article is focused on operations of autonomous artillery weapon systems and possible requirements on survey units and their equipment. In the light of perspective purchase of artillery weapon systems it is necessary to analyze the character of operations of these systems and determine requirements on preparation of position areas. Goal of this article is to describe the character of autonomous artillery weapon systems operations in terms of functionality of individual components of navigation unit and based on this to set the requirements on survey units equipment. As the main method authors used method of scenarios where were as a scenarios determined individual variants of navigation system functionallity. Output of this article is determination of requirements on survey units equpment used for geting information about position coordinates and directions.

The article deals with the position of education system under the Czech MoD control and it is focused on the so-called soldier's second professional career. It shows options for its rebuilding after introducing all-volunteer force model, when professional training scheduled for lifetime employment has been changing into training modelled for contract soldiers, much alike the police corps. Education system for career preparation of soldiers and civil servant mustn't be focused on narrowly military subjects. The author proposes more open system, in order to match the demands of the Czech University Act, secondly, because the fact that compatible university programmes will attract students from civilian sphere. Otherwise students may choose other, i.e. civilian universities and Defence University might be abolished.

Contemporary military psychology tries to augment psychic resistance to various forms of stress arising during carrying out the tasks of military profession. Generally speaking, there is both quantitative aspect to labour (military profession), i.e. amount, effort and time, and a qualitative one, i.e. intelligence and skill. The availability of particular types of labour can influence the location of their activities. From the point of military professionals, the soldier is exposed to three factors: sensorial, mental and emotional loads. Modern military psychology defines basis schemes and methods for psychological preparation of servicemen, it uses psychological experiments that lately enable to predict behaviour of military personnel and serve as a guideline to realize manpower's potential in the most effective ways. Proper preparedness and training help to prolong high soldiers' deployment even in high demanding surroundings.

The article deals with the mental strain, as subjectively perceived by Czech soldiers and their families in the course of and after return from international missions. The research part was processed based on nine in-depth interviews with soldiers with different experiences from foreign missions. The data were processed with the help of grounded theory. The results showed that the involvement in missions is mainly positively assessed, primarily thanks to professional development. The operations bring specific stressors; additionally to critical situations, there is primarily the stress related to separation from the family and the cabin fever. The soldiers cope with the stressors thanks to the contact with their families, thanks to a good team, leisure time activities and support from the chaplain or the psychologist. The duration of the adaptation stage after the mission varies very much. It includes problems with restoring contact with the children and adapting to routine life, as well as the envy of surrounding people, considered by the soldiers a "Czech particularity", caused by low positive publicity of the Czech army.

In May 2017, Islamists of the South-Philippine Separate Groups of Abu Sajyaf and Maute occupied Marawi City in Mindanao. Five-month fighting was attended by more than 3,000 armed forces against about 1,000 jihadists. Dozens of foreign fighters took part in the fighting on the Islamists side and confirming the pan-Islamic ethos of the Islamic state's ideology in this part of the world. Philippine troops were not prepared for the character of fighting in urbanized environment against motivated and experienced militants. The shortcomings were manifested in the conducting of operations in a heavily built-up area, but also in low-level coordination and limits of capabilities of the technical intelligence. It was decided to create Special Operations Command to which all Philippine special purpose forces are subordinated. The conflict experience has initiated a change of doctrinal approach that focuses on air support to reduce losses due to inaccurate bombing and acquisitions of high-tech reconnaissance and weapon systems.