Fulltext search in archive

The article analyses the Host Nation Support (HNS) planning process in five separate phases according to the NATO procedures. The author emphasizes the importance, purpose and result of every planning stage. The main objective of the article is to apply general rules to the concrete examples of international air forces exercises. The author further identifies his comprehension of HNS formed in the specific conditions of the 22th Helicopter Base. The logistic planning process analysis is based on the experience from exercises Ramstein Rover and Ample Strike held in the period of 2012-2014. The paper is focused on exercises preparatory stages that create the basis for a successful accomplishment of the executive part. The results of the article present the trend of planning responsibility delegation to the tactical level and define the specifics of adapted planning process. The author's contribution may be used as a lead for the future application of the HNS concept.

Our new stance to comprehensive control of security in the international context is based upon the so-called "wider security concept". Despite various definitions,there is the consensus that a national state is not the only security subject, the classical paradigm was extended to other areas, outside military one: political, economy, financial, banking, environmental, and social. They are endorsed by security problems related to technology, energy, raw material sources, ethnical disputes, religion, together with humane rights and cultural aspects. To win the war is easy, to establish peace is difficult. Last but not least, we now have to fight and win the war of public opinion.

The article deals with some aspects of applied theory of operational art within the operations planning process. It discusses the area of operational design concepts and suggests possible ways of this theory application in the process of operational approach development. The described theory is a sequel to the article published in this Military Review No. 1/2014.

The change of security situation in the world, international ties and last but not least changes in operational environment, exploitation of new technologies are reflected by changes in defence planning, military organization, forces engagement and operational assessment. Time, flexibility, cooperation in coalition operations, interoperability in technology spheres play incommutable roles together with trained personnel. Command and control (C2) is self-contained system depending on many factors provided by the so-called System of Communication and Information. At present it is the very base for information collection, decision-making process, preparing variants of operation for both commander and his staff. Among others the author writes about Network Enabled Capability system introduced into Czech armed forces. C2 programme is also a part of educational curriculum at Defence University Brno.

Personnel Recovery is currently an inseparable part of all NATO military operations. This article is focused on the development of the Personnel Recovery in military operations from the Second World War to the 2003 Iraq War. It describes the meaning of the concept of Personnel Recovery, introduces its basic aims including the clarification of its importance in military operations. It focuses on the identification of conditions that determine the existence of the rescue system. In the historical context, it describes the circumstances of development of the recovery of isolated personnel, including its incorporation into a functional system. It identifies and analyzes events that, in terms of their importance and ability to influence subsequent development, represents milestones in the organization of Personnel Recovery and from them describes the measures taken.

The NATO common funding has already been used to finance common needs of the Alliance for 65 years and has contributed substantially to its readiness, cohesion and solidarity. A number of reform measures have been approved, and in most cases already implemented, over the period of last several years with the aim of more effective, economical, efficient a transparent use of NATO common funds and the introduction of modern financial management practices. NATO common funding is therefore a live and well-functioning system. Nevertheless, there is still a room for further improvements. The aim of this article is to describe the role of NATO common funding, its basic parameters and tools, its development in the past, and current and future challenges.

The article deals with the experimentation in the military domain. It is anchored by the experiment explanation in the NATO context paying special attention to the capability development. Basic principles and terminology of design, execution and analysis is discussed in the following part employing 5W approach. The main focus is aimed at the experiments' examples from the NATO and Nations environment. The article is closed by the explanation of the role of the experiment in the decision making process under the uncertainty in the complex environment.

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.

Article deals with analysis and description of defence-industrial cooperation of V4 countries from the beginning of nineties of the 20th century up to 2016. The goal of this text is presentation of findings relating to achieved degree of cooperation, where besides realized cooperation (its outcomes are real products) and political aspects (as determining mechanism and framework of whole partnership) attention is also paid to the causes as a driving force of past and current state. In conclusion, author assesses the most problematic issues of defenceindustrial cooperation of V4 countries and also obstacles of their deeper EU involvement, which can be used as a more suitable framework for anchoring regional partnership in sector of defence industry. Author also outlines areas of potential future cooperation of Visegrad partners.

The article examines the different approaches of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United States Armed Forces towards Electronic Warfare, the military activity in the Electromagnetic Environment. All reference materials used for this analysis, including the specifics of the Army of the Czech Republic's approach toward the subject area, were obtained from unclassified military sources. It describes, explains and visualizes the individual approaches, and by their comparison it identifies and subsequently emphasizes cases of divergence, including non-compliance in established Czech terms, definitions and abbreviations. It highlights the obsolescence of the still valid military publication Electronic Warfare in the Army of the Czech Republic, the use of which, in its current form, has already been deemed as unfounded and counterproductive. It presents proposals and recommendations for unification of approach towards the Electronic Warfare issues within the Army of the Czech Republic, in order to ensure consistency with the current North Atlantic Treaty Organization policy related to activities in the Electromagnetic Environment. It contributes to better understanding of doctrinal views on the role of Electronic Warfare in execution of combat support tasks in contemporary military operations, thus creating preconditions for elimination of associated misunderstandings in terms of the Army of the Czech Republic.

The article deals with the Information Support of Human Resources Management of the Ministry of Defense in terms of providing information on the quantity and quality of the personnel of the department for decision making processes. The first part describes the tools and methods of analysis for processing this information. The second part provides practical examples of this information support. On the basis of analytical studies the status of staff is presented in 2015 and 2016, supplemented by comments from the author, indicating possible ways of presenting and using this information in Human Resource Management. The author of the article, which presents the results of the long-standing experience of the creator of the information management support system, concludes that the data generated by this system could lead the adoption of a number of fundamental strategic decisions.

The general trend of weight gain, decreasing physical fitness and health complications in the general population is also reflected in the recruitment of new candidates. Their physical readiness is expected to be high. The aim of this study was to verify whether or not the physical condition of the soldiers entering the army during the 2000-2017 test of physical fitness actually deteriorated or not. The results for the assessed period in the monitored parameters indicate that some components of physical fitness are copying the general trend and showing a slight deterioration. Yet, in general, it can not be said that the fitness of new soldiers is declining, as some of its components show a slight increase.

This article discusses the issues of the Czech military diplomacy carried out by military, air, naval or defence attachés accredited in foreign countries in order to uphold the national security and defence interests. The main emphasis of this article is put on the evaluation of current state and legal bases of military diplomacy of the Czech Republic. The article aims to identify and analyse the challenges (1) the Czech diplomacy is currently faced with and to propose viable solutions (2) which could possibly contribute to better coordination and effectiveness of the Czech military diplomacy.

The aim of the article is to make the general public acquainted with a new view of the state service issue and to offer the author´s observations and conclusions relating to state service issues. The article briefly explains the public service and defines the relationship between the public service and the state service. It describes the organization of the state service and the entities of service relationships in the Czech Republic. It deals with the employment relationship - its origin, non acceptance for employment relationship and its termination. It presents important milestones of the employment relationship, such as an oath of service, a clerical exam and a service evaluation. It characterizes the state service within the Ministry of Defence, clarifies the role and responsibilities of the Secretary of State within the Ministry of Defence, state employees and other categories of the staff in the service office.

The article explores the energy security relations between Russia and the EU. The aims of this article are two. The first is to analyze the content and basic themes of the Russian security discourse on energy relations with the EU in 2012-2017. The second is to interpret the influence of norms and values in the energy security discourse on identity and interests of Russia in the studied period. Security discourse of the Russian Federation focuses on defending Russian diversification projects to strengthen EU energy security. In the security discourse, Russia in relations with the EU de-securitizes the issue of energy when it presents itself as the main and reliable partner and supplier of oil and gas to the EU.

The paper deals with the ministerial officials of the Czech Republic. Using large-N survey on the Czech ministerial officials and in-depth interviews with them, we are exploring the role of social scientific knowledge, which use ministry officials. Based on results of the empirical research are drawn comparative conclusions concerning the ministry of defence and other ministries.

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.

Light Infantry units are primarily equipped with the Iveco light armored vehicles in the Army of the Czech Republic. Similar type of vehicles was acquired by the armies of some other NATO members. Armored LMVs represent a new category of equipment and no specific tactical procedures have yet been created. The aim of the text was to develop general tactical light infantry procedures for the current training needs of units with Iveco LMVs. In the text, combat battle drills on vehicles and tactical procedures for the use of light units equipped with the LMV Iveco have been created. Combat deployment experience and results of live simulation were main source of information for development of LMV tactics and procedures. Presented procedures can be used for training of units equipped with LMV Iveco. The use of light armored vehicles also showed the design limits of this technique. LMVs Iveco cannot fulfill the role of primary vehicle of light infantry units on a conventional battlefield mainly due to their low level of endurance.

This article focuses on answering the question to what extent did the German foreign and security policy change, based on the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, especially when it comes to military deployment abroad. The author identifies and analyses the consequences associated with the German experience in Afghanistan and their influence on the current and future deployment of German armed forces abroad. The attention is given to the German strategic culture of "civilian power" and the question, if Germany still fulfills the attributes connected with this theoretical concept. The author verifies this assumption by means of the role theory concept, which helps to understand the behavior of Germany on the international level.

This article analyzes strategic engagement of the Russian Federation and the United States of America in the South Caucasus in four phases of development from the end of the Cold War until present day. The first phase covers early nineties, the second is from mid-nineties to 2003, the third from 2004 to 2008 and the fourth from 2009 to 2016/2017. There are three key trends during the examined period. First, Russia has permanent strategic interests in the South Caucasus due to maintaining its own state security and securing the position of the most prominent external actor in the region. Second, Russia's weakness and active engagement of the US/NATO are barriers to realizing Russia's state interests. Third, the South Caucasus is strategically more significant to Russia than the US/NATO.

The article describes an approach to development of a national military capability requirements database and its relationship with reference units which will be finally used for assessing capabilities of existing force units. Outcomes from recently completed analyses lead to the conclusion that the single set of capability requirements as specified in the Bi-SC Agreed Capability Codes and Capability Statements, can be taken as a key stone for developing a national database of capability requirements. A due adaptation of this document to the Czech MOD allows getting a complex frame of capabilities which force units shall manage to achieve given operational tasks both in the context of a national or multinational task force group. Consequently such a database can be exploited for setting up a mechanism for capability assessment.

Článek je shrnutím výsledků řešení projektu obranného výzkumu STRUKTURA: Tvorba modulárních struktur úkolových uskupení pro celé spektrum operací a jejich ověřování s využitím tvorby koncepcí a experimentování - CD&E. Je zaměřen na objasnění problematiky definování modulů jako základního prvku modularity a možné přístupy k výběru hodnocení a formování modulárních úkolových uskupení. Cílem článku je pojednat o možnostech tvorby úkolových uskupení a generování sil v podmínkách definovaných a popsaných scénářů. Hlavní části článku vymezují determinanty organizace modulárních struktur a jejich popis.

The paper deals with cyber security, cyber defence and operations in cyber space. It follows earlier performed analysis of cyber defence tasks and proposes distribution of competencies among key players. The required capabilities are derived from tasks determined by legislation, NATO and EU commitments and earlier developed strategic and operational scenarios. Comparing required capabilities and an actual state, a solution harmonizing defence in cyber space with defence of the Czech Republic and ensuring the cyber space defence and integration cyber capabilities into common operations conducting is proposed.

The article deals with ways to help soldiers with the integration into the labour market after leaving the military service. Its aim is to describe the current state of knowledge in conditions of the Czech defence department and methods of so called outplacement in selected European countries. Within the description of the current situation in the Czech Republic, the article focuses on the training of a professional soldier, retraining courses and other measures that are implemented. While processing the text, literature search, analysis of legislative and statistical documents and direct interviews with experts from the Ministry of Defence and other experts from foreign ministries and institutions of the defence department were applied. The article provides a summary of the pros and cons of preparation of soldier for a career in the civilian sector in the Czech Republic, and submits suggestions for improving the current situation.

Effective strategic management is determined by several factors. Firstly, it is influenced by knowledge, experience and skills of all stakeholdersresponsible for preparation of strategic decisions and decision taking. Secondary and no less importantly, it depends on the quality of internal business processes dealing with all aspects of defence policy formulation and execution. Outputs from strategic management are strategic, conceptual, planning and evaluating documents. This article offers hierarchy of strategic documents defines their purpose and content and outlines responsibilities for their elaboration. Recommendations reflect assessment of current legal and procedural framework, strategic management theory and best practise. Ambition is to propos for consideration one of many possible solutions in order to reinforce strategic defence management.

The paper deals with general aspects of problems of biological warfare agents and toxic industrial biologicals understanding from the point of view of protection against their effects and a possibility of specialists´ cooperation. The aim of the paper is to point to some problematic aspects of biological defense realization in connection to experiences from their historical usage. With the help of analysis of current strategical and operational documents and synthesis of available experiences from operational deployment of medical service and chemical corps units variants of optimization of current state have been proposed. These ones are main conclusion of the paper.

This article aims to reflect a digression into the history of selected strategic documents, which processed the Ministry of Defence or was in the processing involved - in connection to the planning of acquisitions. The ambition of the article is not a comprehensive evaluation process, but only the selected aspects. After many years of decreasing Czech defence budget, is here the opposite situation. In connection with the new situation it is necessary to rethink the current approach to this topic; to ensure maximal security of the Czech Republic and in a figurative sense NATO and the European Union also. The fact, that the Czech strategy document was among the best in the EU, does not mean that defence spending is automatically efficient.

After several years of reducing of the Czech defence budget there is a reversal and the Czech MoD begins to manage the increased budget especially for Czech Armed Forces capability development. The Czech Armed Forces is for many years actively involved in the process sharing multi-national capabilities of NATO. Among the former activities such as Smart Defence and Connected Forces Initiative, is also initiative Framework Nations Concept. This article analyzes the overall framework of this initiative, direction and development of this concept.

The paper focuses on the topic of social work in the Czech Armed Forces, its possibilities and specific implementation. Based on the broad definition of the objectives of social work in an international context reflects the current status of social work with military personnel in an Armed Forces in the past 25 years. On the basis of two different surveys among professional soldiers, realized by different methods and at different stages of development of a professional army support the idea, that soldiers feel the lack of social work in the long term, and in the specific areas of their lives, which are inevitably professionally determined.