Fulltext search in archive

The autor responds to several articles published in our Military Review, namely by Prof. František Ochrana, Prof. František Božek, Brigadier Rudolf Urban, Prof. Miroslav Krč, in No. 4/2008, with special appreciation to critical articles by Ing. Jiří Dušek and Lt.Col. Ing František Růžička in the same issue. He tries to find out common denominators of those essays. There are three of them: economization tied with rationalization, risk management, and information compatibility. As necessary he regards to unite those denominators both at the level of decision making officials and at the level of their subordinated elements, by means of e.g. working teams as a guarantee of coordination, so that the adopted Long-term Vision of Defence Department could be actually realized.

The subject of this comprehensive study: the main features of global risk society can be embodied by ecology crises, global financial crises, threat of terrorism. The article is presented as a report to military community and audience, with the underlying focus on terrorism. The author is mapping the global future in the first two decades of this century. As a small country we must pay attention to the developments in the worlds leading powers: the U.S., China, Russia, last but not least, within the EU. Those themes also present individual headings of this study. He treats energy, demography, peace, security, good neighbourly relations, cooperation between states that are most desirable goals we want to reach. In a way, as the main actor of worlds security situation till 2020 is identified Islamist terrorism (radical Islamists, Al Qaeda). At the end Mr. Balabán recalls the former "Security Policy of the Czech Republic" released ten years ago, reminding us the necessity to be prepared for the worst scenarios.

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

Data analyses using methods of exploratory and inductive statistics nowadays form an integral part of many areas of human activities. The paper is focused on the statistical processing of data using a new application STAT1 that works under Microsoft Office Excel. The explanation is given, the source is stated, and the comparison with alternative application software tools is mentioned. Moreover, the examples of practical utilization of STAT1 in the military area are presented.

In course of action, modern forces ought to be capable to safe living surroundings by the implementation of environmental protection into military planning and decision-making process. Traditionally it protects not only a location around military bases, training areas, but also in all operational area of deployed armed forces. This study therefore deals with methods of environmental protection and the so-called risk management to prevent damages that can't be remediated, both in the field of natural, cultural or historic sights and relicts.

The author analyses current pay and reward system of remuneration according to merits, years of service, military profession, speciality, rank, etc. We have many military specialisations that do not fit to only several pay classes. The author concludes that present-day system leads us to badproportioned states, when some military specialities are overvalued, whereas other ones are underrated. This problem is continuously solved. Today we propose new military remuneration model taking into account total fixed remuneration and premium service components.

On May 15, 2012, the Czech Defence Minister decided to establish the Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies. The institution of this type has been long awaited, with great expectations. The author, director of this institute, presents the survey of similar scholarly institutions founded and finally cancelled in this country after 1989. This article introduces the original intent of its founders, namely Centre's future role in the development of strategic studies as a starting point for strategic management, its place in the system of Czech military education and training. The results reached by this institute ought to be truly utilized by MoD leaders and government officials.

The beginning of the second decade of 21st century is tied with distinctive dynamics and changes in global security environment. Among those changes belong security re-orientations of the United States from Transatlantic area to that of Pacific, East and Southeast Asia resulting from a new American military strategy proclaimed in January 2012. The US drew down from Iraq and Afghanistan, political and security movement in Arab world, after decades of "status quo" were awaking. The author concludes that the EU should be prepared for negative scenarios in the development of security situation, or to have at its disposal effective police and military forces with proper humanitarian background to counter possible instability, e.g. massive migration influxes, economy disorders.

This article deals with selected security aspects of Israeli maritime border lines. It briefly depicts current organizational structure of the Israeli Navy. It gives an overview of equipment used to safeguard Israeli sovereignty from seaborne threats, including search and secure operations performed against anti-Israeli insurgent organizations and their trafficking lines. In connection to the Gaza Strip blockade, the article examines legitimacy of this controversial approach and its current international consequences. Last but not least, the article looks beyond the security extent of maritime borders and examines Israeli approach as a mean of spreading the national sovereignty over newly explored gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean area.

The Document ESS 2003 laid down foundations of our present-day security and strategy culture. It was formed as a summary of several historical and political factors that are introduced in two starting chapters, followed by the more detailed analysis into ESS 2003, its main characteristics influencing EU security and strategic culture. The ESS 2003 is compared with the American doctrinal document NSS 2002. The European security strategy of 2003 is not compared with following American strategical documents, as they were unknown in time of its drafting. The author comes into the conclusion that in spite of indisputable differences, the EU shares the same values as the US, and the EU as an American strategical ally is facing the same threats and challenges as the US does, and in case of need, there is a possibility of combined military actions.

Infomantion era could be characterized as a period of steem qualitative and quantitative information raise, aroused namely by sharp development of information and comunication technologies (ICT) . Military deception thus acquires new dimensions, wider chances to be employed in armed forces operations. This article concludes a free series of essays dealing with military deceiving. It is thinking over questions resulting from deception-information age relations, the beginnig of which could be situated into the 80s last century.

The inseparable parts of sustenance costs are expenses for nutrition of members of Integrated Rescue System (IRS) and evacuated civil population. The system covers distribution of foodstuff above all into evacuation centres, preparation of food (cooking), disposing wastes, remnants and leftovers. The collected data were used for calculating and analysis of overall costs spent for all discussed groups. Upon this analyses the authoresses draw final conclusions.

The paper is a contribution to the ongoing discussion regarding training, drills and education of military personnel. It indicates a comprehensive solution of the issue both in national and international connection of the current approach to military vocations, life-long learning Vojenské rozhledy 1/2011 and expected deployment of the present-day armed forces. Using results of a research conducted within the Czech Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces, authors specify roles of individual stakeholders in the process of training and education in the military and define prerequisites of an effective military educational and training system. The authors treat this problem in context of the so-called National Qualification Framework, multinational project of EU member states Military Erasmus, activities conducted by European Security and Defence College (ESDC) and others.

The French "Centre de Doctrine d'Emploi des Forces" (CDEF) has published new doctrine FT-05 The Tactical Commander's Guide to Command and Control in Operations. The global action of land forces is now carried out within a strategic environment that has dramatically changed for 15 years. In this new environment, the French Army asserts and implements a double requirement: that of power and the control of force. The article presents the fundamental conclusions of this doctrine and compares them with the Czech national doctrinal documents. Author concludes that in comparison with the French doctrine, Czech doctrines are much more focused on the procedural and technological part of the Command and Control Systems than the ability of commanders to command.

The essay deals with the concept of total force policy concept and its implementation. Some facts related to the history, implementation and development of this construct are presented in context of the Czech White Paper on Defence released in 2011. In order to improve capabilities of the national armed forces system, and as well as to diminish risks related to lack of human and financial sources in face of impeding population ageing, the author suggests a return to total force concept in the Czech Republic. He admits that the experiences with this policy before 1990 will be inoperative, as there is no chance of reintroducing of compulsory military service or the re-establishing of such paramilitary institutions such as e.g. the SVAZARM used to be.

The overall purpose of this paper is to describe the ways the Alliance and the also the Czech Army will apply the operational art tenets, conducting operations in the future. The current military problems cannot be solved without a deep understanding and knowledge of operational art. In order to improve military thinking within the Czech Army, it is recommended to study and apply operational art. The operational art forms a bridge between strategy defining the political aims of war and tactics, fighting the battles. Commanders and staff officers should study operational art seriously, systematically and with all their efforts. The author deals with current state of present operational art to inform on new developments in this field of military art. The article broadens the vision and deepens the insights of its readers. All information and data for this paper were drawn from unclassified sources.

The NATO's New Strategic Concept is only starting point to open discussion on a wide range of security problems. At the beginning there is a description of Czech home politics, attitudes of Czech political parties toward NATO alliance. The author explores the history of NATO's identity crisis. In recent years, different security optics of the members splintered NATO. The US wants an expeditionary alliance with a global reach, the Western Europeans hold to a vision of a regional club of liberal democracies, the Central Europeans have a wish so that Washington would stand by them when they will find themselves pressured by Russia. NATO is divided on how to reform its decision-making processes and how to fund and resource its home and away missions. In Afghanistan, the Alliance faces the most difficult operational challenge to date, with a real possibility of strategic failure. The overarching problem is how to define the core business of NATO: cyber defence, energy security, WMD proliferation, stability and reconstruction missions, out-of-area missions, territorial security, enlargement, partnership-building. The discussion over the New Strategic Concept needs to reorder the question how to define NATO's appropriate roles and go from there.

This article aims to explain possibilities of using modern evaluation tools of operational effectiveness for managers in the ACR. Ground military vehicles operations are an important aspect of each organizational unit within the ACR. For its realization is necessary to have adequate sources. The authors reviewed current traditional approaches to evaluate the operation effectiveness of ground military equipments. They focused on the role and abilities of transport commanders and executives. This research presents the methods to identify the causes of excessive fuel consumption. The selected vehicle was analysed for exceeding the consumption norm of 270 litters. The primary cause of passing established limits were idle running vehicle's engine and unusual decrease in fuel.

The author explains some terms being neglected in the last few years. War is one of many ways for implementing policy, but actually it is self-breeding and at the same time its own last source. The hypertrophy of available means for warfare creates the atrophy of its functions and consequently even its reason. War is still an extreme choice, bringing about the danger of total devastation of humane environment. It's strange that environmentalists do not put their protests to this centre of gravity. On the contrary, many of them regard wars as natural thing, originated in the very nature of humane dispositions. It has its source probably in the fact that there is no self-contained theory dealing with war and peace, the so-called paxology-the theory how peace can be maintained in the world.

This treatise is a follow-up to an article by the same author in Military Review No. 2, 2012, dealing with legal and illegal war after 1990. Now the author concentrates on another key question: the legitimacy and the unlawfulness of force deployments in internationalrelations. The paper is grounded on fundamental works by the former Australian foreign secretary Gareth Evans, setting international rules or criteria determining when it is right to fight. The effectiveness of the global security system is not only on the legality of its security decisions, military actions, but the common perception of their legitimacy-whether they are made on solid evidentiary grounds, for the right reasons, morally as well as legally.

After several years of service with armour corps he devoted himself to social organizations in the forces, among others he was a head of department for military youth. In 1968 he became a deputy Czech minister for youth, PT and sports. During period of normalization he was released from the army. He made his living as a free lance translator and author. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989 he became advisor to deputy defence minister for humanitarian affairs, later he became assistant to deputy defence minister for strategical control, deputy director of Institute for Strategic Studies, deputy director of Institute of International Relations. After his untimely death, the prize named after him for works in the field of defence was established.

The article deals with nutritious conditions of professional soldiers of the army of the Czech Republic in foreign operations. The way of food subsistence in KFOR and ISAF missions was evaluated. Results reached of performed investigations were summarized; collected data of respective observations were used for processing. The article is supplied by the description of various methods used for above mentioned measurements and data processing. The second part of study also contains the interpretation of

From research reports cited in this article, the period of six months seems to be suitable time for the deployment abroad. A soldier should not be redeployed for at least one year, following his previous mission. The majority of soldiers cope with deployments well and without any psychopathology. Most reported mental problems are alcohol misuse, followed by posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and by the depression. Alcohol seems be even the higher risk for soldiers less exposed to combat stressors (e.g. fire), but more to chronic stressors (boredom, isolation, helplessness) than PTSD for a soldier in action. Therefore pre-deployment training of our soldiers should be more devoted to mental health aspects, starting with alcohol overuse.

This article analyses a new element in the Czech criminal law-Military Bias Crimes. They are included in the new Criminal Code 40/2009 Coll., Sect. XII. The bias motive is characterized by a prejudice against race, ethnicity, nationality, political belief, religious belief or atheism, but not against the so-called sexual orientation, in contrast to the situation in the US. Perpetrators of some military bias crimes, § 378, § 379, § 380, can be not only soldiers, prisoners of war, but also members of security corps (Police, Security Intelligence Service etc.). Up to now, the use of these new norms of the Czech penal law has been limited.

There is an ambiguous relation as far as management and economy in public sector are concerned. Using the example of British army, the author explains the roots and consequences of changes in the field of source management and compares collected results with the situation in the CR. Both public sector and the Army of the Czech Republic (ACR) are administratively ordered and controlled and meeting the army goals that are not conditioned by economy results. The accounting books do not offer true picture of army possession and properties, among others because the current accountancy system that is not able to classify individual operations, military goals are not measurable. He proposes to set an array of fixed rules to identify ACR economical effectivity.

Official objectives of war on terrorism are as follows: we must face theorist threats, prevent terrorist strikes; suppress the power of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. War on terrorism is not a classical or conventional warfare; the term is wide-ranging, covering longterm strategies of national importance. The war on terrorism and employed means are also a source of controversy. It is a question of adequacy of used tools. It is necessary to implement the new strategy of improving conditions in Muslim countries to eliminate their background supporting negative religious and political attitudes towards democracy. Outlined ways of "smoothing edges" in economical, social spheres can noticeably change hateful attitudes of Muslim population towards values of Western democratic society.

Existing military medical service and health care in armed forces is tied by many official legislative norms by Ministry of Health that are difficult to follow by military structures, military manuals and inner rules. The authors trace current legislative framework that limits medical treatment and respective institutions of military medical care. They identify possible problems and suggest solutions how to overcome emerging troubles. The present MoD regulation No. 285/1999 does not meet reality and must be updated.

When the White Paper on Defence was drafted, there was lot optimism as of crisis, then only set in motion. It was regarded as a mere limited, transitional phenomenon. Nowadays we see that it is not a standard crisis known from history, but the so-called systems crises. It is a different sort of crises; we ought to respond by systems reaction in which the society should response to crisis as a whole. This paper originated as a research paper dealing with methods the Czech state should adapt to avert opening crises, with all its sectors and components, including the sector of Department of Defence. The author proposes to draw up a working document "The Army for the Next Twenty Years".

President Barack Obama came to power at a difficult time in America's history. Home and foreign policies are hard to manage, among others, as we are on the threshold of post-ethnic society, and in the war with terrorisms. Obama does not give up American leadership, but he is seeking to find the balance between security and liberty, between power and freedom in the world, broadly speaking. As the consequence, Mr. Rašek presumes emerging the new global security situation: the rise of multipolar world, divided into several new political spheres. This author's opinion is backed by comments by reputable world's political analysts. As far as Euro-Atlantic relations are concerned, or relations with Russia, there are excellent prospects, namely there is the progress with Russia on arms control-part of Obama's determination to put the world on a path toward nuclear disarmament. The author ascribes the drop in Obama's popularity to failed healthcare reform; outside the US, to the fact that Obama is not able to define clear goals and missions in Afghanistan.

This article suggests to introduce a new method of compilation and distribution of meteorological messages in the ACR artillery. The proposed realization mode of is based on the expected course of air temperature during the day. It is compared with the existing regular two-hour intervals that affect effectively the fluctuations of air temperature during the day, especially at sunrise and sunset. Consequently, the study also recommends to adjust the time and space validity of individual types of meteorological messages in the connection with this proposed realization mode of compilation and distribution of meteorological messages.