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The article deals with the system of joint doctrine development in the Czech Armed Forces (CAF) focused on the operational level of command and control, including the implementation of the NATO doctrines into national conditions. Among others, it was found that the structure and content of the Czech doctrines are not systematically set. Allied doctrines are introduced either by rewriting them into the Czech version or by introducing them in the full English version. In both cases, it might cause inconsistency in military terminology. The Coordinating Committee as the only supervisory body does not have the authority to streamline the process of producing military publications. The most important paper recommendations include alignment of the Czech doctrinal framework with the NATO architecture, adoption of Allied doctrines in the English version including the national specifics, or redistribution of competencies within the processing group. Notwithstanding, the above-mentioned proposals, which indicated high impact, require crucial steps to be taken to implement them.

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.

The article deals with approaches and tasks of education in the field of security and state defence of the Czech Republic. It is based on the legal framework and informs the professional public about the initiative and process of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic in particular area. Preparation of citizens for state defence conception, which was approved by the resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic on the 1^st April 2019, reacts to results within the implementation of this Conception adopted in 2013 and reflects an unsatisfactory situation in its realization. It deals with new approaches and tasks of education in the field of security and state defence.

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 main goal of the presented article is to evaluate the impact of Japanese missile defence development on the regional strategic stability in Northeast Asia. The goal is reached through an analysis of interaction between missile defence and roles of ballistic missiles in Chinese and North Korean strategies towards Japan, while also taking into account the alternative policies which Japan might have used in response to the ballistic missile threat. According to the analysis, the development of the Japanese missile defence does not degrade strategic stability in the discussed region.

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 Russia has presented the ongoing war in Ukraine by the term special military operation, whose goals were declared by Russian President Putin in terms of demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. In the wider context, there is an imperial effort of Russia to enforce its power and influence in the region by an offensive and aggressive war. The authors define the fundamental difference between a special operation and the so-called special military operation in the context of contemporary interpretation of the Kremlin. They further argue the way in which Russia is trying to justify the war and discuss its reality in terms of international law.

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 presents selected functionalities of intelligence support in the Czech Armed Forces, which are addressed in the context of opportunities and challenges of the future operating environment. Its aim is to formulate, in parallel reflection with the current approaches of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the possibilities of implementing intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and electromagnetic warfare in national conditions. Military practice is presented with a direction on how to respond to changes in the nature of the operational environment, including changes in the physical and non-physical domains of the battlespace to which all components of modern military forces must adapt while maintaining the necessary interoperability. The article is a response to differing and often not entirely correct understandings of the issue, which can be found even among specialists. It summarizes what has been learned so far and suggests where the discussed functionalities should go.

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 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.

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 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.

This article aims to highlight the most important changes within the transatlantic defense relations. The central argument is that NATO is gaining a conditional nature, transforming collective defense into a form of transactional defense. The study utilizes Paul Kennedy's notion of "imperial overstretch" to explain the strategic context of the transatlantic defense relations. After this, the analysis highlights how the transatlantic defense relations gained a transactional character that is resonating to this American "imperial overstretch". The second part of the study focuses on the latest developments concerning the US military presence in Europe and highlights their transactional character, thus enabling the emergence of transactional defense within NATO.

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

The article deals with 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 discusses the current approach of the Czech Republic to the phenomenon of hybrid threats and analyses the fundamental shortcomings that determine the effective management of these threats. As part of a comprehensive approach, the text is supplemented by the current view of the European Union and NATO on addressing the issue of hybrid action by hostile actors. A summary comparison of the approaches of the Czech Republic, the European Union and NATO points to the need for mutual institutional synergy among these entities. Although the current approaches of the mentioned subjects are relatively sufficiently doctrinally anchored, the absence of a complex and especially practically functioning apparatus and specific operational tools that would be able to face a wide range of hybrid threats persists.

This paper deals with teaching of operations research at University of Defence and its support by means of using selected software for linear programming. The main aim of the paper is to demonstrate possibilities of using the add-in program Solver in Microsoft Excel and Linear Program Solver in teaching operations research via solving an illustrative example of linear programming problem. The paper further introduces operations research as a scientific discipline and a course taught at University of Defence. Last but not least, it discusses advantages and drawbacks of introducing software into teaching of operations research.

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.

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.

Government expenditures allocated for defence are one of the categories comparable between countries to observe and analyse long-term trends. The paper compares the defence budgets of the USA and the Russian Federation between 2000 to 2019 with the aim to analyse potential causes of fluctuations in defence spending. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate that military budgets are dependent on a combination of various factors such as current domestic policy, the economic cycle and global security and economic issues. The work uses significant as historical milestones to analyses their impacts on the dependent variable of military budget. As these, Operation Enduring Freedom (2001), Iraq war (2003), the inauguration of the US Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the economic crisis (2007-2008), the Russian currency crisis (2014) and the Russian annexation of Crimea (2014) were identified.

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.

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.

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 paper deals with cyber security, cyber defence and operations in cyber space focusing on the department of defence. Tasks implied from the Czech Republic's, NATO's and European Union strategic documents and roles of participating subjects have been analysed. Four scenarios as another source of identified tasks were created and used to describe possible situations requiring cyber defence capabilities. The presented analysis is a prerequisite for specifying required capabilities, and a proposal how to assign roles, responsibilities and required capabilities.

The paper outlines several recommendations for strengthening the institutional framework of the analytical support function for credible defence management. Recommendations are drawn based on the outcome of the institutional research project named Strategic Alternatives conducted by the Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies of University of Defence (CSMSS). The multi-objective research focuses on organisational arrangement of the analytical support function within the overall ministry of defence organisational architecture of several countries (Canada, Norway, Sweden) as well as the NATO structure and management (in this case, the main focus embraces the analytical support to defence planning). Analytical support to defence decision making process in these countries enjoys a long-term tradition which goes back to the period of WWII. The way the analytical function is understood is highly relevant also for the enhancement of credible defence management in the Czech Republic and its Ministry of Defence.

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 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.

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