Fulltext search in archive

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.

The air force plays an important role in armed conflicts. It was no different in the Odyssey Dawn and Unified Protector operations in Libya in 2011. The European dependence on the US became fully apparent during those operations. After 2011, US attention has been shifted to Asia. This article focuses on the evaluation of the development of European air forces from 2011 to 2021 in the context of the shift of US attention to Asia. The article uses a dataset to compare the number of aircraft in specific categories in 2011 and 2021. The research shows that European states maintain a fleet of around 2,000 fighter jets, while compared to 2011, the number of ISR aircraft decreased from 183 to 122 and the number of air-to-air refuelling aircraft from 70 to 67. In contrast, the number of MALE unmanned vehicles has doubled from 45 to 91. However, in the context of the US shift Asia, those numbers are insufficient, and European states are still dependent on US support.

The war in Ukraine has become a global issue that has been closely monitored and evaluated by military experts and the media since its beginning. The aim of this article is to point out some specific aspects of the development of the conflict in Ukraine in its initial stages. In the beginning of the article, the author deals with the surprising development of the so-called "special military operation", leading to a change in Russia's original plans. In the following parts, he discusses the way the forces of the warring parties are used in individual domains, applies the principles of warfare and discusses the possible causes of the operational failure of the Russian military forces. The article mainly uses data from open sources. Analysis, comparison, deduction and synthesis were used in its compilation. The overall intention of the author is to offer readers one possible view of the ongoing conflict and to motivate them to think about the nature and character of war.

Voices about the need to build a joint European Union army have been appearing on the European scene for several years, but recently these voices have become stronger, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, in the article, the authors deal with the issue of the possibility of creating a common European army. They draw on from socio-scientific political science approaches to current security frameworks, examine the current state, and at the same time point out that, despite the threats Europe is facing, there is still no clear plan for how such an army should be created. Considering the facts mentioned in the article, the authors state that the creation of a common European army, at least for now, seems unlikely, as a supranational model of the European army would require the transfer of sensitive national competences from the member states to the EU level.

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 war game is a respected tool for commanders' decision-making. Its preparation, execution, and evaluation of results require precise organization and a considerable time commitment. However, the time aspect is a limiting factor in the current dynamic era to a rather objectified evaluation of the variants of operation execution. The article does not describe the process of wargame preparation, it focuses on the execution phase, where it presents the use of a particular simulation system in wargames and under which theoretical conditions the results of combat simulation can be considered valid. It also evaluates the time efficiency of its use in a wargame. It has been experimentally verified that the tested simulation system can be used for a wargame especially in the accelerated simulation mode. The configuration of the computing system was also verified, which allowed a substantial acceleration of the simulation run of the wargame scenario.

The article is based on a study carried out as part of the Long-Term Organizational Development Plan project by the Center for Security and Military-Strategic Studies of the University of Defense entitled "Armed Conflict". As part of the study, the issue of strategic surprise was analyzed and assessed, the aim of which was to find causal mechanisms and connections between the security of state defense and the phenomenon of surprise in the conditions of the 21st century. The article deals with the issue of surprise and its impact on state defense security. It describes strategic surprise as a principled aspect with implications and impacts on state defense. It examines the issue of surprise as a principle of military art in the context of contemporary strategic thinking.

Existing research about China and Taiwan deals primarily with bilateral relations, military doctrines, etc. They don't pay much attention to the consequences of the potential China-Taiwan war. The article examines conditions for emerging and activity of guerillas with paramilitant signs in the case of China's domination over Taiwan. The analysis is based on the present general, socio-economic, political, geographical, and technological environment. A substantial part of the analysis is also argumentation about the potential of urban guerilla. The article is based on data, pieces of information, polls and academic and analytical texts relevant to the main research questions. Those questions are the potential for emerging, sustainability, and effectiveness of guerilla. The article comes with findings, that argue the relatively high potential for the emergence of guerilla primarily because of the suitable environment in Taiwan and possible effectiveness and sustainability based on existing variables, which can however also limit this potential.

The article deals with the use of military police in combat operations during dominance phase.Itdescribes the place androleofmilitarypoliceas combat support units, analyzes experience from previous and ongoing operations and specifies the possible activities of military police during this phase. In conclusion it gives recommendations for the development of capabilities in terms of the activities performed and possible changes in organizational structures. The content of the article is based on thesis prepared by the participant of the 27th General Staff Course at the University of Defence.

The measures adopted on the soil of the North Atlantic Alliance to support the integration of gender perspective are discussed in the article, as well as the way in which these were subsequently reflected in the legislative measures of the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic and examines the approach of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as "OS SR" ) to the integration of gender perspective. The article further focuses on how the OS SR integrate and support these principles in the real life of professional soldiers. The analysis of available statistical data as well as of research previously conducted in this area serves as a basis for formulating conclusions on whether the Slovak Republic fulfills its obligations regarding the integration of gender perspective towards the North Atlantic Alliance, and at the same time formulates starting points for possible future research.

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.

The article deals with the consequences of changes in society and the army after the "Velvet Revolution" in 1989 for teaching social sciences at military schools. The changes are illustrated by the example of the Military University of the Ground Forces in Vyškov, which trained most of the officers for the ground troops. The first part of the article shows the use of social science teaching at military schools to ideologically indoctrinate students in favour of the ruling Communist Party of Czechoslovakia before November 1989. The next part of the article deals with the reflection of changes in society and in the army after the abolition of the article on the leading role of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in the Constitution in the system of teaching social sciences, in their content and scope. The content of the article also shows individual milestones in the process of changes in the teaching of social sciences on the way from their use for communist indoctrination to the formation of democratic army officers.

The aim of this study was to create an overview of the Czech Armed Forces' development in approach to environmental protection from 1989 to 2022. Using the methods of analysis, synthesis and comparison of the Czech, EU´s and NATO´s environmental legislation, we created a comprehensive and previously unpublished overview of environmental protection within the Czech Armed Forces. Found outputs were set into illustrations depicting the activities in the environmental field with internal links between civil legislation, EU's requirements, and NATO's policy in chronological order. We conclude that the year 2000 represents a key milestone from which the approach to environmental protection have stagnated. Among the reasons for the stagnation, we identify commanders' concerns about "green approach" to troop training and the lack environmental education within defence department.

Based on the content analysis method, this study analyzes the first ever published security strategy of the Israel Defense Forces, which was published in 2015. The main objective of the paper is not only to present the circumstances of its creation and discuss the main objectives of this strategic security document, but also to outline the broader geopolitical context from which it emerged. The authors argue that the document primarily emphasized two areas - the use of force and capacity building of the Israeli military. Among other things, the publication of the strategy was intended to have a deterrent effect. In the conclusion, the authors compare the Gideon Plan and its follow-up, the Tnufa Plan, and point to the considerable importance that consensus among political and military elites has in the implementation of such a document and reflect on what lessons and inspiration can be drawn from this case in our geographic space in the process of formulating or reformulating strategic security documents.

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 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.

Uncertainty is a constant in war. Militaries regularly go into conflicts with operational concepts that are not relevant in the face of the enemy and his plans. The authors propose a way to reduce uncertainty and rapidly check, then adapt, the operational concept - designed learning operations at the beginning of campaigns. These relatively small operations will create friction with the enemy, giving learning teams crucial information to assess their operational concepts. Learning operations offer conventional militaries a way to maximize their advantages over sub-state enemies, by concentrating learning at the outset of the fight and adapting first.

This article studies the current stage of development of armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle technology in Turkey, within the context of the current media attention caused by its deployment in various conflicts. Authors first provide a classification framework for surveillance and armed drones. Text proceeds with an overview of the technology and its military use. The core of the text focuses on Turkey's past and present use of armed drones. Authors analyse the current stage of Turkey's armed drone development production and export destinations. Furthermore, operational use by Turkey or other parties is discussed. Authors conclude by comparing current generation of Turkish drones to those deployed by the United States, highlighting technological edge on the side of the US, as well as continuing dependency of Turkey's main drone systems on foreign components.

Authors of the paper present results of research in the area of deployment and operation of multirotors, i.e., autonomous aerial systems with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability. Survey of Czech Army experts' opinions based on the Delphi method points to the significance of MINI VTOL UAS project undertaking - reconnaissance VTOL autonomous aerial system. The conclusion of the analysis is the identification of the primary applications of and requirements for (concept, system, and training) successful deployment of multirotors, with framing of existing issues of technical, acquisition/program and legislative nature, and determination of their importance. The paper also explores experts' views to the acquisition and operation of multirotors in Czech Army to achieve their full operational potential, certainly available in the future battlefield. Inconsistent architecture of information sharing was identified by experts as one of the most important issues with the highest likelihood of solution in the upcoming years.

The article contributes to a more efficient use of the theoretical, technological and application base, especially to the improvement of decision-making processes at the strategic level. It offers a methodological framework for solving the armed forces capability optimization problem by implementing modeling, simulation and operations research tools and theories.

The book Paradigms of Military Tactics, compiled by Pavel Zůna, deals with the principles of fighting at the tactical level on more than 300 pages.

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 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 outlines the outcome of a comprehensive researche aiming at the enhancement of decision making within the defence and operational planning processes. Both processes differ in purpose, neverthelles they are challenged by the very same problém to find solutions with maximum operational effectiveness of armed forces capabilities at minimum cost to achieve objectives. It applies constructive simulation namely the software instruments of MASA SWORD and assess its potential to support the process of capability requirements identification and validation of potential alternatives to achieve objectives. It provides reasonable evidence that constructive simulation is a valuable instrument to support the evidence based decision making within in the processes of defence planning and operations planning proces. Constructive simulation allows to identify the most suitable solutions in terms of both operational effectiveness and costs.

The goal of this review article is to briefly describe the development trends in the conceptualization of the phenomenon of hybrid warfare and to try a basic comparison of the key features of twenty important concepts with emphasis on selected Western, Russian and Chinese theoretical concepts. A substantial part of the article also deals with a closer characterization of hybrid warfare with the intention of clarifying the possible relationship of this type of warfare to the activities of the Czech Armed Forces. In connection with the importance of hybrid warfare and hybrid threats, the article is supplemented with essential recommendations that the Czech Republic and the Czech Armed Forces should reflect. The emphasis on content and the above arguments confirm that looking at the phenomenon of hybrid action and warfare as a novelty is very debatable. Rather than a new concept of warfare, it is a newly accentuated term "hybrid" describing long-known combinations of power tools used.

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 deals with some military consequences of the departure of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union (Brexit). To assess the potential impacts on defence and security of EU, a structured approach involving several methods was used in the analysis, which combines a search of professional publications, factors sensitivity analysis and testing of hypotheses. Based on the analysis, it was evaluated that the departure of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the structures of the European Union will take place without significant impact in the military field and does not pose an immediate threat to the security and defence of EU member states. Nevertheless, in connection with Brexit, there is still a certain risk of negative impacts in this area.

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 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 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.