Fulltext search in archive

The purpose of this report is to imagine the unthinkable of the worst case scenario for the global future post-modern society. The analysis addresses the main features of global risk society, human suffering, and loss of life from natural catastrophes, man-made catastrophes, economic losses, peak-oilcrises impacts, threat of terrorism, radical Islam, fragile states, etc. Important are the consequences of the end of the Vestfal system and global climate change. There is substantial evidence to indicate that significant global warming will occur during the 21st century. The research suggests that once temperature rises above some threshold, adverse weather conditions could develop relatively abruptly. Drought persists for most of the decade in critical agricultural regions and in the water resource regions for major population centres in Europe. As fertility shrivels, societies get older-and much of Europe are set to get older than any functioning societies have ever been. To avoid collapse, European nations will need to take immigrants at a rate no stable society ever attempted. Europe will be significantly more Islamic.

The necessary predisposition of successful meeting assigned tasks of every military contingent sent abroad lies in a high cooperation of its elements, hidden performance of all mission members. The purpose of this article is to introduce nearly invisible activities of geographic and hydro meteorological specialists of the ACR, who prepared and printed geographical maps of Logar province. It is the very first set of maps created by the method of rapid symbolization of GIS data (Geographic Information System), based upon standard Topographic Map TLM50. Vocational preparedness of military geographers is high. Technological means, advanced technology they use in Logar, are an indispensable prerequisite for successful fulfilment of their mission with honours. In fact, the Czech contingent consists of nearly 200 members, formed by soldiers of 102nd reconnaissance battalion Prostějov, 7th mech brigade Hranice, 13th arty brigade Jince, 15th rescue engineers brigade Bechyně, 103rd Centre CIMIC/PSYOPS Lipník, 22nd Air Base Náměšť and other members of Czech armed forces.

Lowering numbers of humane resources and heavy armed vehicles, together with military materials, subsequent transition to light vehicles, with advanced technologies, being capable of quick, rapid movements-those are worldwide trends in the field of military that are reflected also in the Army of the Czech Republic. This new type of forces is able to reach high warfare effectivity-even with lowest numbers of servicemen-in combat and non-combat operations. Namely this article deals with some problem segments of the fire support of mechanized troops. The author describes individual elements of the system, their tasks and responsibilities. At the end of article he summarises the tasks we need for complex and effective fire support of mechanized troops, especially fire support to task forces.

At present, we are going through army transformation, represented among others by lowering military expenditures. One of many questions accompanying this process is a purposeful and functional spending money for military purchases. The authoress, the former teacher at Defence University Brno, explains her method of multicriteria decisionmaking during shaping the algorithmic program eliminating non-optimal behaviour, suitable for all, military and state, officials, who are in contact with external providers (suppliers). Introduced method is transparent one and could be used namely for small public orders, explicitly during concluding contracts without legally fixed terms. The proposed method is demonstrated upon a concrete example of realized contract.

This opening study is written by two authors, members of Centre for Social and Economic Strategies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University Prague, which is an interdisciplinary research and education unit engaged in the development of theory, methodology and practice of exploring possible futures, and the application of analyses and forecasts in decision making. The authors propose to supplement prognostic scenarios by the so-called wild cards that represent something unpredictable, extra players or actors taking part in a global politics. They compare wild cards of 2001 with the present-day situation, and then predict state of affairs till 2040, among others, the islamisation of Europe and hispanisation of the United States. The purpose of this is to promote dialogues between military and security experts, politicians, civil servants, civil sector activists, as well as individual citizens.

The very modern trends in the forces of advanced countries are hiring private civilian companies, private enterprises, in everyday performance of armed forces. As this phenomenon is very frequent, the authors decided to go into its roots, to find a common cause of this fact. In the past, armies were closed societies, self-sufficient, independent from states. Today, gradually, soldiers became more concentrated on key military tasks and supporting functions are transferred to private companies. The German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) takes over mechanics used in private sector: it integrates economy dimension. Above all, it is transparency of bookkeeping, which ought to give evidence on savings in everyday life of forces. The Bundeswehr uses the so-called Market Testing, as a means of practical cooperation for engaging private capital. All those fact are cited as thoughprovoking.

At present, artillery problems are rather neglected. Artillery brigade, which consists of two arty battalions, can form two division task forces, up to two brigade task forces, or several battalion task forces. This presupposes establishing unified chain of command points. At present, we may form three main command points of division, brigade and battalion task force. The author depicts tasks and missions of individual levels of task forces, their composition, main elements of command and control. Special attention is paid to centres of combat support, or places of combat support at battalion level. At present, commanders of combat units do not use fully potential of artillery support. Therefore it is necessary to discuss those problems, so that our artillery could be used in most efficient way. The article is accompanied by several charts and pictures, showing schemes and tasks of artillery forces and standardized operational procedures.

The philosophers describing the growth of humane society outline concepts that are not yet verified but if true, they would explain certain facts or phenomena. As those concepts are supported by various traditions, different criteria, different hypotheses are drawn from them. Among others, most influential political thinkers are Samuel P. Huntington, Francis Fukuyama, or Mr. and Mrs. Tofflers. Every level of civilisation corresponds to respective technology, knowledge of warfare. Current trends reflect the development of security situation, to which our state responds by respective army development. Although the current "Concept of Mobilization of Armed Forces of the Czech Republic" reacts to the newest trends of general development, the raise in military spending is anticipated only time of danger. The author warns against such idea. The forces must be constantly prepared, ready not to be struck by unexpected state of affairs; e.g. similar to that of the US in 1917.

Intelligence activity is an essential part of psychological operations (PSYOPS). Intelligence data are collected, treated, and assessed by intelligence officers together with analytical specialists in cooperation with intelligence authorities from other services. Two basic documents are made. First, in British Army, it is called Country Area Study; in US forces it is labelled as PSYOP Basic Study. The second type of studies represents the assessment of target audience, called in British Army Basic Psychological Study, in US Special PSYOP Assessment. Gathered information are integrated into special electronic bases, e.g. SOCRATES (Special Operations Command, Research, Analysis and Threat Evaluation Data System), or POADS (Psychological Operations Automated Data System) used by the US Army. The rating of effectiveness of psychological campaigns is extremely difficult and consists of several phases. Even enemy's propaganda is analyzed. This process is of specific structure, categorized as SCAME (Source, Content, Audience, Media, and Effect). For PSYOPS operations is extreme important their precise timing. Legal Aspects of "Consciousness and Religion"

This essay is based upon the article by Lt.Col. Peter Zillmer, German military journal Europäische Sicherheit, No. 8/2007. The point is as follows: anti-air defence faces qualitative new tasks, this new qualitative level is constituted by the fact that anti-air defence has only few second to prepare all elements for direct firing against attacks of undirected rockets, mortar mines, launched by asymmetric enemies. It is the question of reconnaissance, and early warning, command and control of fire. NATO's programme Defence Against Terrorism results were demonstrated at air firing range in spring 2007. Coalition forces in Iraq are exposed to permanent mass rocket attacks from the part of insurgents, so they use system Phalanx LPWS, originally developed for direct ship defence. The article further enumerates other systems in use: German FüWES, Swiss Skyshield, and so on.

The overall trend set by NATO forming small, mobile, modern and highly capable units, prepared for combat deployment whenever and anywhere - determines fundamental changes both in military materiel, arms, technologies, but also those in structures of command and control, in the field of preparation and training soldiers. Small units, company, platoon, section are to be prepared for matching the task in the whole spectrum of operational and combat activities, so that they could immediately conduct warfare after being deployed. Supported by a wide range of Allied Publication, Joint Force HQ and Doctrine Committee, Training and Doctrine Directorate, prepared together a pack of tactical publications introducing principles to support above mentioned principles. At the end there is a list of individual chapters dealing with standard principles which will guide actions of company, platoon, and section.

The author of this article considers the prospective changes in the development, character, missions and tasks of the Army of the Czech Republic, Those changes are deduced from the changing security environment and long-term development trends. To meet new demands, we must continue in building interoperability and compatibility. The battlefield operations will be planned and controlled by the systems of "Network Centric Warfare" and "Reach Back Operations". It will not be necessary for a commander to be in physical contact with operational theatre. Electronical high speed intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, reconnaissance will enable the high pace of military operations (together with common analyses, integration of collected data, evaluation of enemy's intents and activities). This will enable to build a credible defence, in the frame of collective security system, hand in hand with other NATO allies.

This article covers the EUFOR RD Congo operation preparation phase and provides information on Military Strategic Planning Process, Military Operational Planning, Collaborative Planning, EU OHQ Potsdam activation and Force Generation Process. It describes planning period to highlight a pivotal role of training and education. Operation EUFOR RD CONGO was the EU second military intervention in the RDC, following Operation Artemis in 2003. The EUFOR RD CONGO mission was to support MONUC during running election process, in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 1671, authorizing the temporary deployment of an EU force in the RDC. The views expressed in this assessment are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of EU Military Structure or the Czech MoD. All information and data for this paper were drawn from unclassified sources.

The article deals with the state of English e-learning on the premises of the University of Defence. The authoress introduces some pages of the electronic materials used for the General Staff Course as an example of modern methods of learning English. She explains the basic principles of the work with these exercises. There is also mentioned the military English interactive CD-Rom that was published last year and is used as the electronic support for learning military English; and also a new CD-Rom that is being developed now is mentioned because it will be used for the General Staff Course participants as well. Because of the fact that Czech military personnel are expected to serve in multinational operations, this interactive CD-Rom will make their language training easier. In the last part of the article, the opinions of the General Staff Course participants on using e-learning materials are given on the basis of questionnaires.

How to master foreign language? There are many methods the teacher can use. The authoress enumerates at least the most important ones: grammatical-translation method and communicative language teaching. Both methods are subdivided into smaller groups, emphasizing different aspects of teaching. The second method puts the stress on communication in practical life. The teacher is only a mediator, learners (students) take over responsibility for mastering foreign language. The language is used prevalently in tangible social context. This method could be called "natural approach". The language acquisition is hard and demands extreme efforts. It is 206 never ending process, assuming perpetual repetition of gained knowledge. At the end the authoress (language teacher at Komorní Hrádek Institute) describes her own experiences with learning foreign language.

Management consists of those continuing actions of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, controlling, and evaluating the use of men, money, materials, and facilities to accomplish missions and tasks. Management is inherent in command, so the candidate officers are trained to execute their authority and responsibility in command. Management principles are lectured both at military graduate schools and application courses. But some themes are repeated, reduplicated; the study plans at the Military University and the Military Academy must be more coordinated, was said at the professional conference on management, held in November 2007, at the Defence University. Some proposals were put forward, e.g. stress on simulation of military functions on computers. The central goal of Army transformation is to reach the decisive information prevalence and operational effectiveness backed by NEC (Network Enabled Capability), established as an accredited study subject.

Manning Czech armed forces in peace, in time of danger or war, are backed by law regulations and DoD internal normative acts. In fact, Czech legislature is still insufficient, so the author advises its revision. Laws concerning defence ought to be timeless, further amendments beg the questions concerning their correctness. When the institute of ?Conscientious Objector? was established in 1990, the figures of soldiers in their compulsory service were reduced by 15-20 % of planned numbers. The membership in an established sect, background as an active pacifist was not required for an objector to be eligible for exemption from military service. Greece (the Hellenic Republic) is one of a few European countries still preserving the compulsory military service for all Greek young men even in time of peace. As conscientious objectors are not regarded those who served in armed forces in the past, who are legally entitled to own a deadly weapon, or were prosecuted or sentenced for an offence tied with arms. The author suggests adopting similar arrangements like in Greece.

At the beginning, the authors introduce modern history of chemical weapons, starting with the deployment of chlorine on April 22, 1915. In the early 70s, the US opened the project BLWS (Binary Lethal Weapons Systems) with the aim to replace old chemical arsenal and eliminate risks tied with the storage of chemical weapons, so did the Russians. Today, new generation of chemical weapons come into being, with higher toxicity, prepared by very simple procedures and means, very heavily degraded. We are proud that the Army of the Czech Republic belongs to those few armies oriented to building chemical-warfare units, specialized and trained to detect the presence of chemical weapons and to decontaminate persons, equipment and vehicles which have been affected by weapons of mass destruction (NBC).

This operation was led by Germany, and made up of elements contributed by twenty EU nations; as well as Turkey and Switzerland. The EU deployed FHQ in Kinshasa and simultaneously kept the over-the-horizon force in Gabon, in order to ensure a deterrent capacity and to avoid unnecessary heavy military presence in Kinshasa. After Operation Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the EUFOR RD Congo was a second EU largest military operation, involving a total of almost 3,000 soldiers and officers). The co-operation with MONUC was decisive in containing the potential spread of violence at a particularly sensitive moment in the election process. The operation demonstrated the EU ability to successfully conduct medium scale autonomous multinational operations within a planned time frame under the UN mandate. The views expressed in this assessment are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of EU Military Structure or the Czech Ministry of Defence. All information and data for this paper were drawn from unclassified sources.

The so-called Provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) are a relatively new concept and element in coalition operations. Those teams have been operating in Afghanistan since the end of the year 2002. The evaluation and assessment of their work is very complicated and sometimes quite unambiguous. The main purpose of this article is to show to widest military community tasks and problems of PRTs; secondly to introduce main principles of work of PRTs under different conditions. Moreover, this article refers to fundamental problems that guide their PRTs development and work in countries that have some experiences with building and activities of PRTs. The author also describes the activities of 40 Czech military personnel PRT in Afghanistan (in the frame of German PRT, Badakshan Province, Fayzabad).

Department by Ing. Jiří Dušek. The purpose of this article is to provoke discussion among military public dealing with economy in order to improve economy management in the forces. The author would like to point out the gap between officially proclaimed principles and true economy development in MoD department. Why proclaimed principles remain only on a sheet of paper and are not introduced in practice? In three theses are summarized the main problems to be resolved. The article is not conceived as a mere critique, it also features several proposals how to improve, optimalize, economy behaviour of the ACR. Among others he proposes to make us of 3E indicator (Economy, Effectiveness and Expediency), SWOT analysis, etc. Last but not least, he underlines the importance of economy education for army officers and leading civilian officials.

This book written by Alain C. Enthoven, and K. Wayne Smith, was published some forty years ago, but its leading ideas do not grow old. It is a work of enduring value and listing relevance, this book is both a classic account of the application of powerful ideas to the problem of managing the U.S. Ministry of Defence (DoD) and a cautionary history of the controversies inspired by that successful effort ...206 Defence secretary Robert S. Namara's device was a new system for allocation defence resources, the Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System (PPBS). Most of those decisions are taken as bedrock defence policy today, and the methods have become embedded ad the DoD's approach to defining and resolving issues. According to the author of this article, this book ought to be the inspiration even for our Ministry of Defence in its effort to save restricted means and at the same time to increase Czech military capabilities.

The main theme of this extensive paper is ethical evaluation of the state of affairs in Iraq that would play greater role - directly or indirectly - in the decision-making of foremost politicians, more role then we might think. Although the author quotes various positive or negative attitudes towards the war, he does not intend to prove or refute presented theses. He broadly treats e.g. the so-called just-war, events when imminent threat might be a case for war, moral clarity in a time of war, situations when we consider that our aims might be achieved by peaceful means. Last but not least, he writes about attitudes of church leaders, the Holy See, lines of their reasoning. The armed forces are called upon to do their duty. The greater the threat, the grater is the risk of inaction, the more compelling the case for taking anticipatory actions. In such case, the governments make their final decisions. It is not the responsibility of church-leaders or military commanders. To obey it, it would not be in conflict with the churches teaching. In these circumstances, the troops could regard an order to go to battle as morally decent, in pursuit of a moral good purpose.

Mentioned Balanced Scoredcard-BSC is an ef f icient tool that helps to the of f icial management to transform vision and strategy into reality, by means of monitoring key efficiency indicators and their transformation into action plans: BSC covers the package of strategy maps enabling to consider mutual connections. Owning to the transparency cause-consequence relation, we can implement cohesive strategy into all level of the organization.

Since the 90's of the last century we have witnessed the discussions over extended concept of security, under which no national state is the only privileged security subject. The classical military concept is extended both "above", towards international, global and regional problems covering economy, social, environmental or humane issues and "down", in the direction of local communities, NGOs, private subjects and even individual citizens. Even though several important constitutional laws reflecting EU criteria were adopted, we still miss constituting and complete overall concept Czech security system. Of course, we have a document "Optimalization of Security System of the Czech Republic", but it is not the genuine concept, but a mere summary of practical measures dealing with temporary problems, namely after the Floods 2002. The author dares the public to open debate about priorities and goals of security politics of our country, in order to lay down, under general consensus, realistic security system, able to face the whole range of security threats and risks, explicitly in the broad international frame of NATO and EU.

The specificity of defence as a public estate rather complicates necessary changes in public expense management, namely those chapters designated for the armed forces. One of prospective tools for defence economic management is controlling, which is more than mere control. It coordinates planning, information flows, it concentrates on final effects. The authoress explains and depicts how this method is working in the German Federal Forces (Bundeswehr).

This second and closing part of this security study covers decades before the half of this century. The leading role in prevention and fight against armed conflicts will rest namely upon intelligence services. It is also expected the mass use of nonlethal weapons. The US will stay as the only leading superpower, minority expects a plurality model, i.e. the US will be only first among the equals. Some predicts the collapse of the EU. The Army of the Czech Republic ought to achieve full operational potential around the year 2012. It will take part in multinational missions. The Alliance armies should have 8 per cent of their capacities fully operable abroad. Under the preventive strategy, the regions of their prospective deployment will be in bordering countries around Europe, areas around the Eastern Mediterranean, or in the Far East. More or less, one problem remains still open: whether foreign deployments of the ACR really correspond to the interests and needs of the Czech Republic.

In view of the fact of recent transitions in the Czech Republic, the Czech military must satisfy a large set of new requirements, including those tied with military defence intelligence. The article examines the key legislative changes under Acts No. 153/1994, No. 289/2005, No. 290/2005 and their actual implementation, linked with various stages of political and strategical management. There is no flawless pattern for military intelligence community. It is influenced by many circumstances: history, traditions, state of affairs. The author does not want to criticize today's model, organizational changes. Present-day establishment is integrated, which has certain advantages and some benefits, e.g. after 9/11 2001 American intelligence services were criticized for their insufficient integration. Adopted laws and rules, instruments for optimalization of present security system of the Czech Republic, are outlined on the basis of Table Supplement "Information on the Results of Czech Security System", www.mvcr.cz.

Thispaperdealswiththeareaof organization values or to say it better, by organisation culture, including its importance for overall efficiency and effectivity. It is a set of values, norms, beliefs, attitudes, assumptions. The authoresses explain those terms, cite their definitions. They underline the fact that highly motivated servicemen are the real assets for our forces. We have to do our best to recruit them, to set up such quality of military life, so that they would like to serve for longer periods.