Fulltext search in archive

Main focus of this article is laid on the digitalization of battlefield, command and control, Network-Enabled Capability (NEC) implementation, organization structures transformation brought about by the 21st Century Soldier concept and its economic implications. Based on this topic, the authors present mobile sensor system as a result of research being done in the Military Management and Tactics Department, University of Defence Brno.

The defence of country is demanded, but as far as monetary resources are concerned (the effectiveness of which is mostly not transparent), the civilian public takes them as a mistake, as superfluous expenditures. The military economy is an interdisciplinary branch of knowledge, it is a broad subject that can?t be reduced for mere controlling expenses. Still, it is very difficult to assess its recoverability, in comparison with its importance for state defence.

The core of this article is lying in general delimitation of objectives, aims, and tools of state economy principles within defence department. It is the question of optimalization, leading doctrines and tools of economy of economy support of defence. The authoress proposes the system of optimalization of economy support of defence and economy and defence policy of state, its introducing into methods and practice.

The authoress deals with the question of financial resources the AČR will be able to spend on issues tied with state defence, i. e. for the needs and demands of defence department. In fact, its sources represent the main base for the support of the Czech armed forces. To predict the volume of financial means allocated for the forces is problematical, questionable. We must be prepared for further budget cuts, we must prepare B-scenario for the worst situation.

The Czech Republic is developing professional, highly mobile forces, with up-to-date arms, weapons, capable to take part in wide scope of Alliance or other multinational operations, even abroad, outside European territory. But this capacity depends on defence budget, on the percentage from our GDP allocated for military. From the part of the ACR, it will depend on effective spending, usefulness of used resources.

General View by Doc. Dr. Jiří Nedbal, CSc. When we prepare activities/exercises of military units, we can make use of theory of asymetric information that offers wide scope of decision variants. We can use PERT method which is not very difficult to understand. This can help us to disclose hidden reserves, sources, problems. We also could take over experience from other armies. It is important now, when percentage allocated from defence budged is still shrinking.

Arms-importing countries often ask their suppliers to "offset" the cost by reinvesting some of the money in their country. The so-called "arms trade offsets" are thought to enhance domestic economic development. Do offsets mitigate or magnify the military burden? This article examines the theory and policy applications of arms trade offsets and looks at some cases (JAS 39 C/D GRIPEN). It will be a useful and enlightening read for those interested in international development economics, military studies and our Czech policy-makers.

This article presents the findings of the survey being done during the evaluation and assessment of EU Battle Groups, their missions, roles, tasks, stemming from the requirements set by the EU Crisis Management Concept. The paper does not discuss in detail variants EU Battle Groups, but concentrates on their historical background, basic characteristics, structure, EU political-military ambitions, scenarios, reaction time, tasks, standards, training and certification, Battle Groups commitments, concept and implementation, achievements. The article also includes recommendations for the Czech Armed Forces that are currently involved in the formation of the EU Battle Group CZE/SVK. This article aims to record progress to date and to indicate challenges ahead. All information and data for this paper were drawn from unclassified sources.

The article deals with the position of education system under the Czech MoD control and it is focused on the so-called soldier's second professional career. It shows options for its rebuilding after introducing all-volunteer force model, when professional training scheduled for lifetime employment has been changing into training modelled for contract soldiers, much alike the police corps. Education system for career preparation of soldiers and civil servant mustn't be focused on narrowly military subjects. The author proposes more open system, in order to match the demands of the Czech University Act, secondly, because the fact that compatible university programmes will attract students from civilian sphere. Otherwise students may choose other, i.e. civilian universities and Defence University might be abolished.

This work deals with the selection of candidates for Czech armed forces, with particular emphasis on their aptitude for professional military service in the ACR. Their age is also one of the distinct features influencing the result of selection procedures. The goal of this work is to assess the results of psychological tests of selected group of candidates (aged between 20-29 years and over 40) and their relation to age. This work entails theoretical as well as a practical concept in the form of quantitative survey. The theoretical part acquaints with the basic theoretical facts and specifications pertaining to military service. There is a detailed description of the selection process of suitability of the candidates for military service, especially psychological compatibility, differentiation of the stages of maturity and characterization of the maturity level in each. The practical part serves to introduce the observational survey. It analyses results of the psychological tests and presents the ascertained correlation between age and selected psychological variables.

In the last few years, the Czech Republic has been undergoing deep social changes in which the Army of the CR plays an important role. The soldiers risk their health and even lives, therefore they should take advantage of all benefits offered by state social security. Their professional career, promotions and advances must be taken in account when they are leaving the military service. On the other side, we must also reflect economic capacities of the Czech Republic. The authors enumerate all conditions to be fulfilled, so that soldiers were entitled for veteran benefits, together with the history of various benefits, the ways they used to be handled in the past. Legal adaptations are not systematic solutions. As we have no special law on public service, from which veteran benefits ought to be deduced, we have no general base for proper legal amendments, now being discussed.

Based on their previous experience, the authors ponder professional soldiers? rational behaviour and decision-making process in the Army. The authors say that such behaviour is possible even on the lowest command levels, supposing several fundamental conditions are fulfilled. Every commander ought to evaluate the situation independently, unbiased, he ought to judge the impact of his decision on all parties involved and to settle actual eventualities. This process is set into military surrounding. This is a place of specific character that reflects the structure of special military relations. The higher level of command, the higher level of rationality of decisions. But, the superiors should bear in mind that even their subordinates might share decision-making process.

First, we must define applied terms, such as state of danger, emergency, state of state emergency, state of war, sovereignty, democratic principles. Our national reserve consists of compulsory reserves and active reserves. The author enumerates with the use of vast tablets and charts their numbers, together with numbers of military occupational specialities, and explains terms extraordinary service in time of eminent danger, during military exercises, in time of proclaimed state of emergency. He also cites numbers available for conscription (draft). Last but not least, he quotes arguments and conditions under which a reserve soldier can refuse call up order. Defence Act specifies all conditions of national military service, which also includes calling up women, except for those who are e.g. pregnant or are raising children up to age of 15 years.

The professionalization of modern forces is an upcoming trend in all advanced democratic countries. It is demanded by complexity of current armed fight, advanced sophisticated weapons systems, antipathy of young people to serve in forces; established selective service was not solution, as it was more or less tied with bribery. In our country, compulsory military service was abolished after 135 years of its existence, in 2005. Mr. Pernica, the author of a book "Professionalization of Armed Forces: Trends, Theory, Experience", published by Czech Military Agency of Information and Services, treats military service as a sort of public enterprise in market of labour force. He introduces two models of armed forces: conscript service and volunteer service. At the end of this review Mr. Rašek points out that under the condition prevailing security risks and wide-spread interventionist policy, there is a possibility that we shall have to return to conscription system.

The proposals of systems approach are sometimes met with a negative acceptance. While solving difficult problems, army members exploit mere practical approaches and they proved to be successful. For that reason the author offers a short glimpse into systems thinking, as necessary starting point for pinpointing the cause of current difficulties. The system is any collection of component elements that work together to perform a task. In economic science, system is used in a variety of contexts. Military cost-effective system can be an essential programme that manage Planning Programming and Budgeting System, flexibly reacting to emerging military challenges resulting from new budget rules (based upon NATO doctrines). One of possible causes of disproportionate and undesirable reactions are wrongly set systems rules, e.g. in market systems manifested by the so-called risks factors. In the forces, the same position ought to be held by unified systems rules, taking into account individual economic subsystems (billing systems, spending elements, etc.), harmonizing them in terms of general independent economic principles.

Those three E are much in use both in official documents and mass media. Dozens of defence officials use them every day, but actual outputs present that they do not know the key essence of 3E, or they are not aware of how to put them into practice. This article would like to help them to make understand the practical application of basic principles of 3E in practise. The reason of this gap, according to the author, lies in insufficient ties between theoretical and executive spheres of defence sector.

The article is focused on issue of hybridisation of Al Qai'da in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), in North Africa, and its implications for European countries. The process of hybridisation is being conceived as growing nexus and convergence between violent non-state actors, while these processes could be in this case identified mainly in issues of use of kidnappings and secondary also reported involvement of AQIM in regional smuggling, mainly drugs, activities through Sahel and Saharan region to Europe. Regarding GSPC background, AQIM could be in long term theoretically able to re-establish its financial and supporting networks in Europe via cooperation with organized crime, which were largely disrupted after major crackdowns by security forces between 2004-2007. Event though a direct Al Qai'da attack in Europe is-according to the author-excluded, the purpose of this article to draw our attention to an eventuality of rebirth of European operation network of AQIM operational predecessor, i.e. GSPC.

In April and May this year, several articles or essays appeared in civilian media, introducing misleading information that in the near future, the ranks of ordinary servicemen (privates, corporals, sergeants) are coming back, as they were abolished after introducing professional forces. Such proclamations are not quite true, because ranks of private, corporal and sergeant, were earmarked by legal rules above all for soldiers in their compulsory or compensatory military services, i.e. they were not abolished after 2004. There are a lot of similar uncleanlinesses as far rank corps are concerned and therefore the main attention of this article is concentrated on changes that in connection with Act No. 221/1999, Coll., Professional Soldiers, amended and updated in 2009, has come into being.

Relations between NATO and the Russian Federation are one of key factors influencing overall policy of the whole North Atlantic Alliance. They are complicated and sophisticated questions still predisposed by the heritage of the Cold War.But there are mutual fears, common security problems they both have to counter. NATO policy must be established upon present-day reality. It is self-evident that there are common fields of common interests in which mutual balance must be reached. There are among others: armament, preventing arms proliferation, halting proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical agents, antimissiles defence, counter-terrorism, drugs smuggling, open sea security, common peace operations. After two years the Russian-Georgia war started, military cooperation between Russia and NATO was re-established. Separate problem in midterm prospects presents the solving of conflict in Afghanistan.

The deteriorating situation in the Afghanistan region poses a security threat not just to the United States, but to every single nation. It was from that remote area of the world that Al Qai'da plotted 9/11 and subsequent attacks in Europe and elsewhere. Reading news about Afghanistan today gives rise to the question why the situation in this country is such as now really is. Ordinary mass media depict the country often in a confusing manner: Afghanistan as "a country, full of terrorists and uneducated barbarians, longing to destroy western civilization and kill". The author describes bad security situation which presents problem for both coalition soldiers and local Afghanistan population. At the same time we must realize that involved soldiers are exposed every day to asymmetric enemy forces, they stand face to face to mortar danger that could be hidden in for example in every car passing by.

Had PhDr. Miroslav Purkrábek, CSc. was still alive today, he would be 80 years old. It was on September 8, 2005, that Miroslav Purkrábek, suffered a stroke. This year it has been fi ve years since he died. He was a person who contributed to social sciences on three distinctive fi elds: military sociology, sociology of military health, and sociology of public policy. As a gifted scholar he expected that alongside with disarmament talks and preparing collective defence, especially after the fall of world?s socialist system, that task of the army would shift towards preventive, threatening role. But he even lived to see the moments when military professionals were engaged in real combat, in preemptive conflicts, against non-traditional, assymetric forces of guerrilla character. At the same time he could see that another hypothesis of transition to all professional forces was going be fulfi lled. Unfortunately, the Czech Army was not prepared for this important process, as political and MoD leaders at were occupied by this theme of professionalization only marginally.

The article sums up the evolution of the Czech officers' qualification structure since the start of downsizing in 1990 and provides an outlook beyond 2010. At the early 90's graduate education used to be only for officers. A total of 65 % were holding university degrees. Today this number reaches 98 %, with 3 % holding Ph.D. or CSc. degrees. There is also an increase in numbers of WOs with graduate education, it is 4 %, despite the fact that such qualification is not necessary for them. Authors discuss this evolution and compare it with the ageing of the Czech population and overall academic education system. The gradual decrease of people aged 20-24 till 2020 is an important challenge to reforming recruitment and education of junior officers. The reform is needed to avoid deficits in quality junior officers and consequently the lack of personnel selection for military education at the University of Defence.

The Ministry of Finance Regulation No. 415, 2008, sets the scope and structure of initial documents for midterm plans of state budget. The Regulation was further specified under the Order by Minister of Defence "Planning Activities and Development of Department", No. 22/2004, MoD Bulletin, October 29, 2004, now updated. It prescribes to follow the Financial Chapter of MoD by individual targets. The final objective thus becomes a specific indicator of defence spendings. This arrangement thus becomes a basic document for monitoring, evaluating and implementation of respective remedies. It will be tied with running Planning, Programming and Budgeting process. They both will share a common target database for data necessary for planning financial means. Its implementation should be accompanied by educational and schooling programmes for personnel involved, the author proposes.

First, the author, who works at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Mons, briefly describes the contribution of Geographic Service of Czech Forces in terms of geospatial support for NATO. He also mentions current allocation of personnel in military missions and NATO/EU international structures. The article deals with tasks fulfilled by the Geospatial Section within Supreme Headquarters (SHAPE). One of the main section's responsibilities is Geospatial Data Management and Distribution, in line, with releasability conditions, and overall coordination of geo-cells within subordinate HQs. This section widely cooperates in the field of research and development, namely Core GIS project and Geospatial Standardization. Direct Geospatial Support is shortly mentioned, as well as variety smaller assignments.

NATO's Research and Technology Organization covers six panels dealing with technology. System Analysis and Studies panel drafted a long-term scientific study "Joint Operations 2030" that was performed for three years under the direction of CNAD (Conference of National Armaments Directors). This study identifies system approaches of NATO further development. Its purpose is recommend remedies for eliminating potential defects in future Alliance capabilities, in the frame of anticipated security surrounding and emerging new technologies. The work was divided into five states: evaluating previous studies, evaluating basic potential, setting priorities, new technologies and the last stage evaluated results reached by means of Multinational Exercise. The final version of this document (Final Report) will be released in next half. By joining JO2030 the Czech Republic underlined its resolution to contribute to the advance of NATO defence potential.

Computer-Aided Logistic Support (CALS) appeared for the first time in 1984 in a common study of US government and American defence industry. The study recommended using technical data in digital form. Further it was changed into Computer-Aided Acquisition and Logistic Support and in 1994 the acronym CALS was changed into Continuous Acquisition and Life-Cycle Support. At present we interpret CALS as the support to all automatized processes with fully digitalized data processing. Among its important tools belong LCC (Life-Cycle Costs) and risk management. It is a vast standardization strategy, covering the whole life cycle, via acquisition process, its support, innovation and product disposal. CALS is supposed to make acquisition procedures in the ACR more effective.

Army rations or preserved foods are used to be normally prepared in field kitchen. For standardization reasons, the forces of NATO nations have agreed on several principles, embedded in STANAG 2937 that is the basic document for nutrition of soldiers, compulsory for all NATO member states. Up to now, as a field food support, the Army of the Czech Republic has had at its disposal only the so-called "combat ration food", offered in two variants. At Jan Bata University Zlín, experts finished the development of pre-prepared meals, i.e. "meals ready to eat" intended to be prepared in field conditions. Basic rations meet all requirements prescribed by the Czech Field Manual Prov-1-1. Emergency rations meet 60 % of required energy value. They are intended to help in crisis situations, in time of lack of food. For handling, packing and traffic grounds, food rations are planned for 25 persons.

International humanitarian law hinges on the principle of the distinction between combatants, whose function is to conduct hostilities during armed confl ict, and civilians, who are presumed not to be directly participating in the hostilities and, therefore, entitled to full protection from attack. They lose this protection only if, and for as long as they "directly participate in hostilities". After several years of expert discussions and research, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has published the Interpretive Guidance, which aims to clarify the meaning and consequences of direct participation in hostilities under international humanitarian law (IHL). This article is devoted to the explanation of this notion. The presented interpretation follows the Interpretative Guidance published this year.

This is another publication by Mr. Jan Eichler. It consits of three parts: the fi rst one defines nearly three dozens of basic terms in the field of security, the second one deals with wars in the 90?s, and finally third part concentrates on terrorism. The book has evidently pedagogical bias, with explanatory character. Under the influence of foremost sociologist Ulrich Beck, Jan Eichler interprets risks as ?social phenomena? derived from threats. The author also evaluates wars in Africa, Asia and Latin America, in Serbia or the Persian Gulf, which took place in 1990-2001. There were 120 armed confl icts, with 94 % victims from among civil population (compared with 50 % of WWII and 15 % WWI). In those wars bellingerent parties deployed weapons of all sorts, with the exception of WMD. As far as international terrorism is concerned, the author sees as its primary characterists the absence of warning before terrorist attacks are accomplished.

The definitions of the geospatial support used in different NATO missions and at command levels are very similar. However, the real content varies and it is affected by particular command level and the territory supported. The article describes the structure and manning of the Geographic Section at the HQ KFOR Pristina, Kosovo, and the Geographic Cells of all KFOR Multinational Task Forces. The author discusses the changes on both the customer and request sides and their changes caused by a recent transition of KFOR to the "Deterrent Presence" operations. Our soldiers work in leading positions and specialist occupations. Since 2003 the Geographical Service (GeoSl) has been regularly occupying geographical posts at KFOR Command Pristina. Those positions are prestigious, recognized by all NATO geographical community.