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Military spending is a widely discussed topic, especially in the current geopolitical landscape. Expenditures on "equipment" play a pivotal role in total defense spending.. However, the nature of the equipment expenditures is cumulative. Thus, when trying to estimate the capability of a state we should consider a longer period, not just one year. The aim of this article is, therefore, to offer (i) an exploratory analysis of the cumulative equipment expenditures of NATO countries between 2014-2023 and (ii) to verify - by using OLS multivariate regression - the extent to which the GDP per capita primarily drives these expenditures (adjusted per soldier), the share of defense spending from the GDP, or by the fraction of defense spending that goes specifically to equipment. The results show that the GDP per capita is by far the most powerful predictor.

The article holistically analyses current strategies for the use and development of nuclear forces of the USA and Russia and analytically reflects their mutual doctrinal interactions. It deals with the conditions under which the U.S. and Russia may opt for using their nuclear weapons and reflects also related issues of modernization and development of their actual nuclear forces. The author argues that both superpowers did not manage to abandon the Cold War logic or avoid erroneous, distorted or exaggerated assumptions about the intentions of the other side. The text concludes with a summary of possible changes and adaptations of the American nuclear strategy under the Biden administration as part of the assumed strategy update expected for 2022.

This article focuses on the identification of key factors of material resources in the field of equipment, armaments and military vehicles within the Czech state needed for effective mobilization. The primary goal is to answer the question of whether the Army of the Czech Republic still has adequate supplies of these key resources and whether it has the ability to increase these resources in crisis situations without significant dependence on foreign imports. The above analysis revealed mostly sufficient stocks, but at the same time significant limitations were identified in some categories, especially in their technical and moral quality (obsolescence, respectively), especially in most types of military vehicles. The issue of dependence on foreign imports concerning raw materials then changes considerably, from the minimum (combat dress) to the almost maximum (ballistic helmet) level.

The article discusses the possibilities of joint deployment of combat unmanned ground vehicles with combat infantry units. It summarizes the deployment of these assets in past and present military operations, including the presentation of deployment experiences available from public sources, and examines the joint deployment of an infantry squad with an unmanned ground combat platform during an attack operation. Using a constructive simulation, it presents the results of the deployment of an infantry squad during an attack operation with and without the support of a combat unmanned ground vehicle. As part of the discussion, he develops the ideas necessary for the cooperation of the unit with an unmanned vehicle. The aim of the article is, among other things, to open a debate in the professional community about the possibilities of effective use of unmanned ground systems to support the activity of combat units in military operations.

The article deals with the formation of artillery in the Czechoslovak legions in Russia. Using information drawn from contemporary sources and books from the 1930s, it presents the basic milestones that were at the birth of this important part of the Czechoslovak legions.

The article brings a comparison of the approaches to the strategic defence analysis (SDA) and developing future Defence Concepts (DFDC) of the Czech Republic and Norway. The countries are in a different geopolitical situation, NOR being a country with borders that are part of the outer border of the Alliance, the Czech Republic being a country surrounded by three member countries of the Alliance and one PfP country. On the basis of the comparison of the two approaches, the authors identified differences and common points of the two. Based on the findings, the discussion provides inspiration for possible enhancements in the approach of the Czech Republic to SDA to ensure the future defence of the country. All that in context of current Security developments in Europe, that have an impact on how NATO member countries might deal with Article 3 and Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.

The civil war in Myanmar has been going on for more than seven decades. After the military coup in February 2021, it has undergone significant structural changes and gained new momentum. The causes of the conflict lie in the inability of different ethnic and political groups to find a way to coexist within a single state entity and the autonomisation of the military. The main actors in the war in Myanmar today are the military junta and its supporters, the democratic opposition and ethnic organisations. After the coup, the strength of the resistance movement and its operational capabilities are growing. However, this growth has its limits, given the continued disunity of opposition forces, the technical superiority of the Myanmar army and the strengthening of its numbers through compulsory conscription.

This paper deals with the issue of logistics planning – one of the seven planning domains of defence planning in the Ministry of Defence Department of the Slovak Republic. In the framework of the descriptive research problem, the author was looking for an answer to the question: How is logistics planned in the defence planning system at the departmental level? The article contains the results of theoretical and empirical research carried out on the given issue. The author explains the main theoretical background of the research issue, describesin more detail the methodology of logistics planning in the conditions of the department as well as current knowledge and experience from practice, points out the most significant problems in the field and proposes their possible solutions.

Laser weapons have long been the subject of debate. The article discusses the potential adoption of laser weapons by infantry units and the future of small firearms. The text analyses these weapons in selected categories that subsequently support the evaluations and the conclusion. If miniaturisation is successfully managed, the comparison reveals an interesting paradox. While laser weapons and firearms do not rival each other as distinct functionalities, given the right conditions, they can actually complement each other and compensate for any disadvantages within their respective categories. Today's complex battlefield is placing ever greater demands on small arms, pushing conventional weapon mechanisms - combined with ammunition that guarantees accuracy and lower recoil, albeit at the expense of penetration - towards the limits of further possible advancement in technology. Improved passive individual protection restricts the wounding potential of pistol ammunition, reducing it to below 150 m for rifle cartridges, while guided ammunition tends to be prohibitively expensive. Under the right conditions, laser weapons could compensate for any of these drawbacks.

The language training within the Ministry of Defence [MoD] of the Czech Republic is primarily focused on English. However, in accordance with the Concept of Personnel Training for the Needs of the MoD, the MoD provides language training in other foreign languages as well. The language teaching is the responsibility of the Language Centre of the University of Defence Brno [CJV UO] and includes English, French, German and Russian. The aim of this article is to compare the activities of the CJV UO with similar language centres in the defence departments of Germany, Austria and France and to present the teaching of French, German and Russian within the MoD through examples of good practice. In the context of the current geopolitical situation, the teaching of French, German and Russian becomes more important, and the CJV UO responds flexibly to the demands of the MoD regarding the provision of the teaching of these languages including professional language and electronic teaching support.

The article follows the author's comparative analysis of American and Russian nuclear doctrines and armaments from the fall of 2021. It presents the current nuclear strategy of the United States of America based on a content analysis of three specific areas of the updated version of the Nuclear Posture Review. Applying interpretive analysis and a rich secondary sources apparatus, the author also reflects on his 2021-formulated assumptions and expectations about the further development of American nuclear strategy under President Joe Biden. The author analyzes the influence of the presidential administration's ideological and political ambitions together with the decisive geopolitical events of 2022 and concludes that mainly due to the second factor, the current shape of American nuclear strategy has not undergone any revolutionary changes and continues to maintain a long-standing continuity and consensus about its basic principles.

This article deals with one of the most explosive areas of the world today, which is the Near and Middle East (NMEA) and especially the territory of historical Palestine, where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (IPC) has been going on for a long time. The text deals primarily with historical and military factors and is written as a historical explanatory analysis. It focuses on the most significant historical events and explains the ways of functioning and the consequences of the processes that have been taking place there for a long time.

The article deals with the basic characteristics and tactical-technical requirements for the tactical unmanned aerial system (TUAS), which is planned to be implemented in the Czech Armed Forces in the upcoming years. Based on the results of the comparison of the Czech Armed Forces requirements with the parameters corresponding to the TUAS, the Hermes 900 and Heron systems of Israeli production appear to be the most suitable variants. Both aircrafts can represent a comprehensive solution in this area. They both have a long tradition of production, research and development and of course, they both meet the requirements for TUAS within NATO and the European traffic operations accreditation. However, the decisive selection parameter, apart from security risks and compatibility, is also the purchase price. The main goal of the article is to bring a view of the issue from a broader context and to find a possible way-out together with an evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of each of the proposed variants.

The article addresses the issue of the emergence of new technologies and their impact on the capabilities of the Czech Armed Forces (CAF). A summary of the recommendations is presented. In particular, there is a need for a conceptual approach to the integration of new systems in order to avoid spontaneous purchasing, which could be very logistically demanding. The very rapid development in the field of unmanned autonomous systems using elements of artificial intelligence offers opportunities to use them in support of the tasks of CAF. Due to the breadth of this issue, the scope is limited to the area of the Special Forces, which introduce these new sophisticated means into use throughout the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic.

The article deals with the evaluation of current possibilities of medical support capabilities in the area of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defence. The evaluation of national strategic documents shows that the area of providing care in the event of chemical and biological hazards is significantly more developed than in the area of radiation, while the security threats associated with radiation are constantly growing. Analysis of NATO standardization documents in the field of medical support and relevant Czech doctrinal documents was carried out, based on which the diagnostics and triage of irradiated persons, called biological dosimetry, was identified as a potential capability. Using the capability planning methodology and based on the evaluation of the functional areas, a conceptual approach to the development of biological dosimetry capabilities was defined. The presented recommendations also include a proposal for the organizational structure of the Czech Armed Forces biodosimetric network.

The article deals with the preparation of the Active Reserve of Czech Armed Forces, territorial forces in detail. It compares them to the equivalent of the active reserves of the Polish army, namely the Territorial Defense troops. A comparison of the development and preparation of these forces points to the necessity of solving or updating the system of calling up reserves of the Czech Armed Forces, their training, arming and equipping.

The aim of the paper is to determine the extent of the use of strategic and decision-making analysis methods and the specifics and barriers of their practical application in the process of creating conceptual documents in the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic. In the qualitative research, a semi-structured questionnaire was created for the purpose of data collection and submitted to eighteen creators of the department's conceptual documents. The obtained data were evaluated by open coding according to the grounded theory, one of the methods of systematizing qualitative data. The results show that the methods are used, but informally or in a modified form - adapted to the specifics of the department. Barriers to the use of methods, are primarily the varying level of competence of the creators, the inappropriateness of certain methods for certain types of documents, time pressure or the preference for an intuitive approach. The ideal strategy seems to be a combination of the intuitive and rational approach.

The article describes the reasons that led to the development of the implementation tool for development projects used by the Czech Ministry of Defence to simplify the planning processes and the experience of its users with the tool. Modernization of the army is one of the basic building blocks needed to achieve the goals set by the state's security strategies. A comprehensive approach is necessary to perform many consecutive activities, such as project management, risk management, and others. To streamline the processes needed for the preparation and planning of development projects, the Czech Armed Forces issued a methodology to create an implementation plan for the acquisition of new military equipment in 2021. The purpose of this article is to present the results of the analysis of experience with its annual use in practice.

The article deals with the artillery manual gunnery in accordance with the modernization of the czech artillery. The article describes the results of research aimed at innovating manual (alternative) methods of determining the firing data so that they are applicable on the contemporary battlefield and are compatible with the nature of the data used by artillery within the NATO. The issue of the article is aimed primarily at determining the firing data by the use of meteorological techniques, while presenting the outputs of a comparative analysis of procedures used in the czech artillery with the procedures applied by the US army. The main contribution of the article is a critical evaluation of the approaches of both armies and a proposal for innovation of existing procedures so that the most beneficial requirements are applied and negatives are eliminated.

The article deals with the method of application of evaluation tools, applicable for the evaluation of the preparedness assessment of undeclared headquarters and units of the Czech Armed Forces. As a part of the research there were analysed the approaches of the Czech Republic and NATO using of a comparative analysis supplemented by a structured interview. The results of the research confirmed the inconsistent approach to the application of standardized tools and methods for evaluation of units, which are not declared for the NATO and the EU Task Forces. Based on the results of the analysis and with the utilization of the best practice approaches, there was formulated an innovative approach to assessment of the required capabilities of all headquarters and units. The evaluation of these preparedness is carried out at the end of each Czech Armed Forces operational training cycle.

The guarantee of national defense and the fulfillment of commitments to Allies is highly dependent on its financial source security. The economic recession, which began in 2008 in the USA, negatively affected public budgets. This recession was one of the causes of the reduction of planned defense spendings in the Czech Republic. This reduction caused the postponement of acquisitions, which were to be implemented both with regard to commitments to coalition partners and with regard to maintaining their own defense capabilities. Nowadays, current internal debt is still increasing due to neglecting inflation of military equipment, which is higher than inflation of ordinary goods. Currently, the defense ability is also affected by the pandemic of Covid-19, which caused a slowdown in GDP growth and public spending growth. For this reason, it has been several times postponed the commitment to achieve a rate of 2% of military expenditure of GDP by 2024 and the current plan to achieve it in 2027 is also endangered.

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 focuses on identifying the key factors of human resources within the Czech state needed to carry out mobilization of the armed forces in case of a military conflict. It primarily answers the questions of whether these factors are sufficient and can be used effectively in the mobilization process. It addresses the issue of military records, sustainability of military reserves and their profitability. It also deals with the influence of secondary factors on the possibilities of creating and training reserves, especially the motivation of citizens to defend the state and the physical fitness of the mobilized population.

The article analyses the process of the NATO enlargement after 1990. It starts by a detailed analysis of the secret negotiations which have been started just after the end of the Cold War. In the light of the institutional liberalism, the NATO enlargement is a positive process which satisfied especially new member states. But in the light of the American neorealism, this process resulted into profound changes in the balance of the security threats and into a large militarisation and tension at the new Eastern frontier of NATO in a direct neighbourhood with the Russia. New military units with the modern arms systems are deployed over there and we are witnessing a growing number of dangerous military incidents. As a result, the contemporary situation needs new political negotiations between two competitors and a shift from the contemporary negative Peace towards the positive Peace.

The article is based on the neorealist theory and is aimed to the analysis of the military doctrines of the USA published between 2012 - 2018. It evaluates them as the consequence of important changes after the end of the Cold War, namely the process of the enlargement of NATO. The article explains the US doctrines as a manifestation of a reinforced military self - esteem of the USA and warns that these doctrines should lead to an increase of the military tension at the Eastern frontier of the enlarged NATO.

The theoretical journal Vojenské rozhledy was founded in 1920. Its publishing was interrupted twice, but it has continued until now. The aim of the article is to evaluate the importance of the journal for development of the military and security theory and practice and to reflect on its possible future. Attention is paid to the focus of the magazine during the Czechoslovak First Republic. The article also deals with the attempt to issue Vojenské rozhledy during the Second World War and unsuccessful efforts to restore it after 1945. The article also deals with the circumstances of publishing and aiming of the magazine Vojenská mysl, which replaced Vojenské rozhledy in the period 1950-1991. Since 1992 it has been continuously published under the original name Vojenské rozhledy. The author concluded in his analysis that, despite the changed conditions, which make it difficult to publish theoretical journals in general, the Vojenské rozhledy are irreplaceable in the Czech conditions.

The goal of this article is to evaluate the portion and content of articles focused on the artillery in military journals, especially in the Vojenské rozhledy in the period of the 1920 to the present. Articles are evaluated in three periods. The first one includes years 1920-1944, meaning times since establishment of the Czech military review until its cancellation before the end of World War 2. Next period includes years 1951-1991 when magazine called Vojenská mysl had been issued as a replacement of Czech military review. Additionally, in years 1951-1988, the magazine called Bojová příprava had been issued. The third period begins by the year of 1992, when Czech military review has started to be issued again. In addition to that, in the same year, magazine called Vojenský professional was issued, but this magazine was implemented to Vojenské rozhledy in 2003. Particular focus is given on the first period, which could be considered as a period of the biggest growth in the Czech artillery.

The article deals with the development of Czechoslovak military aviation in the period 1920 - 1939, as it was presented in the journal Vojenské rozhledy. The author focuses on the most interesting articles, which he complements with his own observations and opinions. He is directed on articles that affect mainly the doctrinal aspects of the development and activities of the military aviation, as an independent kind of Armed Forces, in defence of the state sovereignty of Czechoslovakia. The article is supplemented with information on the capabilities of the military Air Force immediately before the annexation of Czechoslovakia by fascist Germany in 1939.