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This paper aims to enrich professional discussion on future shape of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic (AFCR) and is linked to the preceding research and publishing activities of members of the Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies (CBVSS) at the University of Defence. In its first part, it performs a historical tour to the year 2012 and highlights the reasons that the former leadership of the ACR led to the start of construction work on the concept of AFCR (KVAČR). Briefly describes the interconnection and the hierarchy of individual conceptual and strategic documents, the procedure works on them and summarizes the arguments supporting the need of KVAČR as such. The next section brings potential methodological approaches to the preparation of this document, using the method of the "9S", including practical examples, it renumbers basic strategic assumptions and priorities in various stages, bordered by years 2020 and 2025 as a prerequisite for formulating strategies for achieving this specific goal. Within the document, there is a short excursion into the field of long-term planning for major areas of skills, using their description of DOTMLPFI functional areas, including an example of using this methodology in project preparation of program funding. The recommendations formulated in the article are based on the authors' best experiences with the preparation of documents of a similar type in the years 2003-2013, the recommendations of experts from the broader security community of the Czech Republic, and recommendations of the Alliance. As such, it has been passed to the KVAČR processors at level of the General Staff of AFCR over the years 2013-2014.

The article deals with economical aspects of operation of the military vehicles designated for the transport of persons in the competence of the defence department. In the beginning of the article basic concepts are defined, types of vehicles, and current structure of fleet of the sector. In addition, all passenger vehicles and buses exceeds the national average age in 2015. A more detailed analysis showed that the MoD makes the procurement of new vehicles in cost-effective way, and the structure of these purchases began to predominate significantly cars with diesel engines in the last ten years. However, the lack of monitoring of the total costs of operating vehicle use all cars unevenly, and fleet renewal is realized in low volumes. Although the data in the article are reported to and including 2015, evaluated the development and evolution of this trend persists until today.

On the introduction, the article focuses on clarifying the place and role of counterinsurgency in current military operations. It also deals with the principles of counterinsurgency and their doctrinal comparison within some advanced armies and the NATO. The aim is to highlight some findings related to principles that should be changed,added in doctrine and incorporated into the training of the ACR troops. The result of the analysis and comparison of individual principles with own experience of the author from the mission in Afghanistan are recommendations given for the troop training in the theatre. The implementation of the proposed measures in preparation of the Czech Army units may improve the effectivenessof counterinsurgency in military operations.

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.

Frozen conflict in Nagorno Karabakh has been representing a threat to the regional stability for the last two decades. Sudden escalation of violence in 2016, known as Four-Day War, spurred new discussions on factors influencing the territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. While adversaries explain the conflict as a reaction to military provocations or as a rally round the flag effect, this article explains the dynamics of the conflict through the influence of the third party - Russia. Russia considers the Caucasus to be its sphere of the influence and therefor aims to spread its control through strengthening strategic ties with both Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to prevent the West from projecting its power in the region. Russia's role of the superpower has therefor a vast influence on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict development.

Hybrid threats are considered among the most serious risks that Western societies currently face. The aim of actors using such threats is to influence decision-making processes, and in order to do so they use a rich spectrum of methods to instigate conflict in society, seeking to undermine trust in institutions, abet radicalisation, and so on. Activities aimed at creating internal conflict, and the prevention of such activities, are not, of course, a new phenomenon; they differ only in their extent, intensity and the techniques used. The aim of this paper is to investigate how classic strategists - Thucydides and Machiavelli - described in their works how internal conflict is fomented among the enemy and how it can be prevented. The paper describes and analyses various ways of instigating and mitigating internal conflict as noted in their works, and assesses their relevance for the current debate.

The aim of the text is to present the approach to assessing the military potential of the state as well as the will or possibilities to be used to achieve national strategic interests or power objectives. This approach is methodologically based on the sectoral analysis of the state's power potential and its possible projections in the construction and use of armed forces. The described and used approach in the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic is applied to the current Russian Federation and its military or power activities

The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), on the basis of which the EU builds its defence identity, has a broad spectrum. It focuses not only on the defence component of the CSDP, but also on associated areas such as defence industry and market, defence research and development, and supports them with related legislation and various policy and financial instruments. On the one hand, this prevents the issue of European defence from being easily confined. On the other hand, this reflects the robustness of the EU's approach to European defence and its willingness to mobilize all available resources. The article describes the evolution of European defence, its major milestones and actors, related processes and rules, and the key tools that are now largely concentrated under the umbrella of the CSDP. Current issues of European defence, including scenarios of its possible future development, are also addressed, as well as the contribution of the Czech Republic.

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 authors offer the research outcome focusing on the assessment of risk management practices applied in the Armed Forces development planning process. Based on analytical outcomes, contemporary theory and best practices authors outline comprehensive approach to risk management within the Armed Forces development planning process. The purpose of the article is to enhance effectiveness of existing managerial process and elevate risk management from rather administrative exercise to effective management tool in the time of growing level of uncertainty. As the most suitable instrument, the Risk Management Plan is developed including the necessary implementation measures within the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic.

The article deals with the issue of identification and evaluation of the competencies of senior officers of the Czech Armed Forces. Paper investigates the role of the authorities responsible for military branches and military occupation specialties in the system of defining officer´s competencies. It was also examined the scope of possible application of the competency model of a professional soldier defined by the National System of Occupations in the process of career management. As a comprehensive and optimal solution, a full application of competency model is proposed. The partial application of the competency model is based only on the use of the soft competencies component. Both of these proposals are formulated primarily for the purpose of describing the job position and official evaluation. The paper also brings a number of proposals in the conceptual and normative area circumscribing and strengthening the role of the responsible authorities in the process of defining the officer´s competencies.

One of the longest conflicts in Latin-American history ended in 2016 when then Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the largest guerrilla movement in Colombia. His predecessor, the current senator Álvaro Uribe, opposed the peace agreement, believing that an offensive against the guerrillas was the right approach. This article shows how these two Colombian presidents framed guerillas and what strategies and expressions were used in their presidential speeches. The main argument is that the conciliatory discourse of President Santos helped to finally achieve peace. The research paper uses a comparative method and the concept of framing.

The article deals with the integration of outside resources into the process of support Forces in Military operations. The crux of this work lies in the illustration of 'place' and the role of Civil Contracting Supports in the Combat Service system of Armed Forces. It also accentuates the sense and complexity of Combat Service Support. The article analyses the advantages. disadvantages and risks for utilizating Civil Contractors in armed conflicts. The text respects this and acknowledges the benefit from experience of the NATO Armies in this field. In the closing part the authors formulate recommendations for the later boom of 'Combat Service' theory and practice. The effect and benefit of this article lies first of all in its suggestion of criteria for the selection of contractors.

The article deals with the issue of warfare. Its aim is to describe and clarify the character of warfare in its contemporary doctrinal context. The authors of the article focused on the specifics of individual forms of warfare and its complexity within the annexation of Crimea by the armed forces of the Russian Federation in 2014. Description, content and comparative analysis of used sources and doctrinal publications were used. The authors conclude that the complexity of contemporary warfare creates appropriate conditions for the nation and its armed forces to enforce its interests and achieve strategic goals. The main contribution of the article is to provide information that is not available in professional literature or it is not part of doctrinal or other national military publications.

The article deals with providing situational awareness in operations at the operational level of command in the context of the information environment, the current nature of which significantly affects the execution of this capability. It examines the influence of three selected aspects - information overload, the expansion of advanced information technology and the growing importance of the cyber domain - on generating, maintaining and sharing situational awareness in planning and conduct of operations. It identifies and characterizes the respective sub-capabilities within the information area, necessary for operational headquarters to effectively provide situational awareness, and outline possible ways to develop these capabilities in terms of internal processes, technical equipment and personnel.

The basic orientation in the field of military art demands at least elementary knowledge of military history and understanding to military strategy influence on the art of war. The questions tied to understanding military strategy and its influence on the preparation and conducting military operations are part of study programmes of all life education at the Defence University. The purpose of this article, dedicated to military strategy problems, is deeper understanding to its basic connections, understanding a direction the strategy took in a designated period and its development. I ought to explain in short its role and attitude towards the nature of military operations.

The paper deals with an insurgent strategic concept "leaderless resistance". It was elaborated by US intelligence officer Colonel Ulius Louis Amoss. It is used by various insurgent actors and it is researched within the context of insurgency and counterinsurgency and interconnected issues (extremism, terrorism etc). The author of this contribution deals with the development tendencies and with the strengths and weaknesses of this strategy (including the derived concepts as "leaderless Jihad" etc.). Its adaptation in the era of modern political and hybrid warfare is explained. Challenges for successful countering from the point of view of security architecture (intelligence and law enforcement agencies, army, non-.state actors) are discussed.

The main goal of this article is to discuss in the context of selected security intentions the world peace as an idealistic phenomenon, which is determined by many factors in the current dynamically changing environment. The intention is not to compare individual philosophical theories, but to provide selected synthetic security indicators that can help measure the state of the security environment. On the basis of these arguments, we can observe a downward trend in the rate represented, also linked to an increase in the activities of terrorist groups and generally transnational threats. The article also highlights the current relatively rigid role of the UN in relation to global peace. The international community and world peace are particularly influenced by the mutual relations and the rivalry of the superpowers. In future conflicts, the transition from the physical form of the battlefield to the imaginary platform, represented mainly by cyber space, will be more evident.

There exists a variety of deployment strategies, visions and concepts for armed forces, how they will operate in the future horizon. The key part of operational concepts consists of several key characteristics, which include e.g. the account of military problem, its military solution describing in broad terms how military forces will operate across the wide range of military operations in pursuit of strategic objectives and thereby consequent requirements for military capabilities development. The article does not provide a comprehensive answer to all the problems associated with the concept development. Rather, its purpose is to point out some aforementioned aspects crucial not only for operational concepts developers, responsible individuals and organizations, but it may be beneficial even for commanders in terms of their operational thinking and drafting an appropriate operational approach to solving day-to-day acitivities.

In 2007 and 2010, this Czech Military Review Vojenské rozhledy published several articles, discussing analytical thinking and analytical methodologies in the field of military intelligence. The authors among others mentioned the methodology ACH, Analysis of Competing Hypotheses. The methodology is not suitable only for intelligence, but it can be used further for solving a variety of military decision-making problems. The article in its first part describes ACH philosophy, including some academic considerations both by supporters and critics to this methodology. The second part demonstrates an example of its implementation and usage during support other problems tied with decision-making in defence planning process. The method is simple to explain, but difficult to introduce to real practice. The article explains both the theory and modifications of ACH and underlines some pitfalls connected with putting methodology into practice.

Review of the Author's Monography PROCHÁZKA, Josef and Pavel NEČAS. Approaches to Security and Defence Strategy Formulation.

Dear readers,
We would like to present to you an article published in our journal in No. 3/1921. It is the contribution by Major Junger entitled "Zkušenosti světové války a posiční válka"(Experience of World War and Position War). You can read or download the continuation of this article on the website of our journal www.vojenskerozhledy.cz in the Archive menu.

The article is about the immigration in France and its consequences on the security field. It starts by the historical context and pays a big attention to the development during last two decades. It analyses the process of the islamisation on the cultural, social, security, and political levels. It continues by the French debate which reflects the clash of two contrasting approaches: political correctness vs. critical attitudes. The French experts dispute about two key subjects: the numbers of the immigrants and, namely, the correlations between the immigration and the growing numbers and brutality of the terrorist attacks (the so - called amalgam). The last part analyses the place and the role the immigrants in the French armed forces. This text offers an original periodisation of the phenomena of the immigration in France since the first post WW II years until today. It examines not only its quantitative aspects, but also its qualitative changes.

The aim of the article is to broaden scientific discussion held within the defence and security community on methodological approach to scenario development process. The author brings an innovative look at the concept of modular task force development, which is considered, in his conception, as a result of interconnection between capability requirements arisen from scenario analysis process, and respective type of force units being a part of the current military structure. The author´s approach to task force generation process, illustrated by a case study, is a synthesis of best practices and findings derived from national as well as EU and NATO planning processes. The proposed concept of the task force generation might be perceived as an effective tool for supporting strategic decision-making process.

Most people think that working in archives stands for activity with old documents, arranged upon bookshelves. Only few people know that archives means handling information. Today, data are not only in written form on paper, pieces of information are recorded on electronic media. Keeping archives is a part of national heritage; it has informational, scholarly and cultural functions (§ 2, Act No. 499/2004, Archives and Files Services). The author summarizes nearly 90 years of military archives, founded in 1919 by the famous Czech historian Jaroslav Werdstat, as a section of the Czech Country Archives. Very often the Military Archives have gone through difficult periods, and probably with regard to today's army priorities, we could expect uneasy progress even in the near future. This field is not in the centre of attention of army representatives, as it usually does not attract their attention.

United states of America classified from 2019 Iranian revolution guards as "foreign terrorist organisation". Article analyses consequences of this step. Text in the introduction presents Guards and highlights the differences between this organization and "classical" terrorist organization. Goal of the main part of text is to analyze American steps and finds consequences resulting from it. This work concluded that though legal consequences of putting Guards on the list of "foreign terrorist organization" are small, on the other hand its practical impacts are huge. There was also found link between putting Guards on this list and new American strategy of "maximal pressure" against Iran.

Dear readers,
We would like to present to you an article published in our journal in No. 2/1921. It is the contribution by Captain of General Staff Josef Kopáč on the 100^th anniversary of the death of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. You will learn how the former French commander-in-chief was seen a hundred years ago.
You can read or download the continuation of this article on the website of our journal www.vojenskerozhledy.cz in the Archive menu.

The aim of the article is to compare the term and definition of "Intelligence Support" used in the Czech Armed Forces with related terms used in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, United States Army and Slowak Ground Forces. The article proposes updated Czech terms and definitions. The article can serve as a basis for a next discussion, for a dictionary processing, it will help intelligence staffs in orientation in intelligence terminology and it improves interoperability within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and in foreign missions.

The article is focusing on challenges connected with execution of the Czech Army military operations in tropical rainforest under umbrella of international organization. The military engagements in the tropical climate depends on unit general characterization and necessary unit competency insufficiently specified in the Czech Army Catalogue of Capabilities. The Czech Army Catalogue of Capabilities standardizes training methods, training cost, and required training area and required training equipment and material. Based on experience gained from the training of the Czech military personnel in Jungle Training Centre in French Guyana, we can assess that to attain required skills for jungle operational environment acquires a few weeks. The international organizations are capable to provide necessary training for jungle operational environment in order to reach required level of skills and competencies before operation execution.

Dear readers,
We would like to present to you an excerpt from an article published in our journal in No. 1/1921. It is the contribution of Major of the General Staff Rudolf Hanák entitled "Útočná vozba (tanky)" (Assault Vehicles (Tanks)). You can read or download the continuation of this article on the website of our journal www.vojenskerozhledy.cz in the Archive menu.