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Career education of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) personnel is a key component to meet requirements for qualifications. As these requirements are career growth conditions for career personnel, they are inherently connected with further promotion in rank. The MoD Concept of Personnel Development for 2012-2018 sets the direction of the educational development to achieve these qualification requirements. During the process of preparation of the career courses it was revealed that some system changes should be made due to implemented or planned changes within the legislative and source framework of the Ministry of Defence.This article describes the proposal of a new concept for training of personnel in the career courses. It was prepared by a project team headed by the Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies at the Defence University. The article also shows the development of the situation since 2004, when the professionalization of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic occurred.

The paper is focused on the area of defence sources in the Czech Republic. Within an analysis of the actual situation in military spending in the Czech Republic, some potential approaches are defined to enable the reasonable and transparent allocation of resources for national defence. Based on these approaches, three courses of action are derived in order to deal with current resources inadequacy and instability in defence.

The article is available only in the Czech language. For more information please contact editors.

Since the 1st release of an internal ministerial norm guiding planning processes of activities and development within the Czech Ministry of Defence (MOD) presuming existence of Capability Planning Methodology, this document has not been established. This article offers selected theoretical starting points and, on their basis, it outlines possible a ministerial process tree focused on the capability process as a ground for its definition within Czech MOD conditions. Further in a framework of an added value model proposes possible internal structure of above mentioned process down to sub-processes level with justification of their purpose and mutual links. Formulating mentioned attributes of the capability planning process this article makes a contribution to set up this process within the Czech MOD.

The article aims to identify the dependence of military expenditures and selected economic determinants on the example of the V4 countries in the years 1999-2020. The following are selected as economic determinants: the size of the gross domestic product, the rate of inflation, the debt and deficit of the government sector and unemployment. Correlation analysis proved the expected relationship between the gross domestic product and the military expenditure of Hungary and especially Poland. The relationship between military spending and unemployment was confirmed for Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, the expected relationship between military spending and government debt for the Czech Republic. The linear regression model confirmed the positive effect of the gross domestic product on military expenditure in the case of Poland, the effect of the increase in military expenditure due to rising inflation in Hungary and the negative effect of increasing state indebtedness in the case of the Czech Republic. At the same time, the results did not confirm the uniformity of the factors affecting the size of the military factors in the analyzed V4 countries.

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.

The modernization of armaments and military technology is one of the ways to increase the combat potential of the Armed Forces and has implications at all levels of the Armed Forces. Its main purpose is to replace obsolete technology with new ones to prepare the Armed Forces to meet the new challenges of the future security environment. New technologies play a key role in this regard. Not only the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, but also other NATO and EU member states have planned significant modernization projects for conventional military conflict but also unconventional, asymmetric and hybrid conflicts. The authors examine approaches to the modernization of the Land Forces of selected countries. Finally, the armament strategy of selected countries is compared with the armament strategy of the Czech Republic's Land Forces.

This essay depicts he alternative approach to investments in public sector. Author expresses his belief on evaluating and rating investments in public sector in the same way as in private sector. The simple theoretical analysis and foreign experiences give enough evidence about feasibility of such approach even in defence sector. Nowadays, in governments across the world, public-sector financial systems are being transformed more fundamentally than at any time in decades. The changes are taking place to respond to a number of deficiencies of government accounting and financial-management system. Foreign experience has proved that a system of output appropriation provides a workable alternative to the traditional input-based system and can yield substantial advantages for both departmental management and government decision makers.

This essay depicts he alternative approach to investments in public sector. Author expresses his belief on evaluating and rating investments in public sector in the same way as in private sector. The simple theoretical analysis and foreign experiences give enough evidence about feasibility of such approach even in defence sector. Nowadays, in governments across the world, public-sector financial systems are being transformed more fundamentally than at any time in decades. The changes are taking place to respond to a number of deficiencies of government accounting and financial-management system. Foreign experience has proved that a system of output appropriation provides a workable alternative to the traditional input-based system and can yield substantial advantages for both departmental management and government decision makers.

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.

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.

An article describes a humanitarian camp at Mokraď in Slovakia, built up by the Czech Army in cooperation with the Armed Forces of Slovak republic, as a reaction on refugee crises caused by the war in Ukraine. All phases of the development, preparation, movement and transportation, construction and operation are mentioned there, an internal structure, used technical means and involvement of personnel, lessons identified and recommendations included, leading to increase of efficiency of similar activities in the future.

This paper assesses the information war in Ukraine in the context of the military strategy. An influence of the information operation (disinformation and deception) presents the strategic tool. The author pragmatically analyses the information war from the military art perspectives and as a part of the strategy used for support of the combat operations. He identifies phases of the information war in the context of the war. The author expects and confirms the opinion that the information war is led by both external actors (the USA and the Russian Federation). Their top representatives are involving in the information war because they support their own interests. This paper has been written as a neo-realist case study. The balance of power concept is in accordance with the used theory, as well as with the key interests of the external actors.

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.

An article in the Vojenské rozhledy magazine triggered an argument over the importance cash-flow planning for the application of 3E-methodology at the Czech MoD in 2004. Today's study re-opens this argument again, but on the background of the modernization of Czech state finance management and the implementation of a modern cash-flow management into the Czech public finance, under the authority of Finance Ministry. Those processes profoundly affected the economic policy of the MoD, granting more responsibility and economic independence. MoD is allowed to formulate, administer and control its own financial policy to reach higher cost-effectiveness. But does the ministry really become a better financial manager? This article deals with fiscal years 2004-2007.

The article deals with the issue of the cognitive pyramid and the possible use of intelligence analysis in the context of gaining the understanding and wisdom of users of information using this pyramid. The cognitive pyramid is used to define the terms date, information, knowledge, understanding and wisdom that make up the various levels of the pyramid. The paper attempts to discuss concepts in different models of the pyramid. It briefly describes intelligence in the context of the use of intelligence by means of a cognitive pyramid. Intelligence is a special kind of knowledge. This article also seeks to explore how intelligence creation can be explained using a cognitive analytical pyramid model.

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 administrative culture is something like "mind set" of "software" of organization, its philosophy, a part of which is the so-called economization. The process of economization of defence sphere will lead to further decrease in numbers, cutting down redundant materiel, supplies. Such economy measures should produce savings in terms of hundred millions Czech crowns, side by side with the increased potential of the whole military organization. The authors introduce Activities in Defence Sector the CAF model (Common Assessment Framework), based upon the Model Excellence of the European Foundation for Quality Management, expressed by the following formula: factors involved equals personnel times activities (education) times facilities (investments). There are some similarities between army management and business administration, so the economy instructions ought to be part of overall military education and training.

The article deals with the some legal aspects of Western military aid to Ukraine. The first part briefly analyzes the Russian Federation's attack on Ukraine from a "just war" perspective. The following part is devoted to individual perspectives of different branches of international law on military aid to Ukraine - the law of neutrality, ius ad bellum, ius in bello, issues of co-belligerency and state responsibility for complicity in internationally illegal actions. The conclusion summarizes the findings and gives an answer to the question why Western aid to Ukraine mostly does not violate the norms of international law.

Over the last few years, a need for reinforcing the NATO-EU mutual coherence has become increasingly apparent. The EU and NATO have recently initiated the steps to consolidate the strategic cooperation where a way ahead to converge NDPP and CSDP planning process was also underpinned. The recent introduction of new tools tailored to get more effective the CSDP process offers new opportunities for facilitating a convergence of EU and NATO planning approaches. Even if it is impossible to assume that the Alliance's and the Union's planning processes would become identical, the implementation of PESCO and other subsequent procedural tools has created a room for potential synchronization and harmonization of respective planning processes. The paper summarises findings on certain parts of both processes which could be brought closer, in terms of time and procedures, without affecting the autonomy of both organizations in any way.

The article is a polemical expression of authors' opinion over this problem. It is related to the orientation of society, political coalitions, and single states towards higher goals. If we admit that the sustainable development of society is the base for securing a peace and stability, then we can state that the question of security or consecutively country defence cover problems of the whole social system, subsystems and system elements. Strategical decision-making ought to be the highest priority in our society. It is indisputable that such decisionmaking deserves scientifi c support. At the end of this article the authors propose a short algorithmic program for Czech military strategy that is planned for the year 2014 and the concept of Czech army development planned for 2015.

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 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.

Presented text mainly deals with the issue of long-term planning in the department of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) of the Czech Republic. The issue is discussed at many levels, taking into account economic and other operational factors that are very important for adequate functioning of the department. Attention is focused both on theoretical considerations, and practical implications of proper planning.

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

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

The article aims at highlighting the dangers of long underestimating the need to permanently improve the defense capabilities to deal with current and future security threats. Authors suggest propositions on where to direct the efforts to improve the competence of the Defense to meet the Act Of Defense Requirements. The first part of the article describes, after brief analysis, the options of collective defense and explains the need to solve demanding tasks on own territory under national responsibility in parallel. The second part of the article describes the main thoughts of the theory of "territorial defense", which is missing in current Doctrine of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. Theory of territorial defense makes a foundation, upon which the preparedness of the Armed forces of the Czech Republic should be built. In the third part of the article the authors discuss the alternative of implementing the collective defense principle by building multinational joint forces, independent of national armed forces, in transnational responsibility of the coalition of member states, dedicated to the territorial defense of member states and to crisis response expeditionary operations.

This study presents the perspective of Czechoslovak diplomacy on the events of the Yom Kippur War (1973) in the context Czechoslovak foreign policy towards the Arab-Israeli conflict in early 1970s. The research is based on so far rather underexplored archival sources. Despite Czechoslovakia's declared unequivocal support for the Arab side of the conflict, Czechoslovak Middle Eastern policy since the mid-1950s was not entirely unconditional in relation to the Arab countries. Internal documents of Czechoslovak government occasionally revealed criticisms of Arab representatives. The Yom Kippur War represented a significant moment in this regard, as it was a military confrontation initiated not by Israel but by the Arab coalition, posing a challenge for Czechoslovak propaganda. Simultaneously, this armed conflict presented an opportunity for Communist Czechoslovakia to further deepen its relations with its Arab allies.

At the beginning of August, Defence Minister Alexander Vondra announced his intention to give rise to the White Report of Defence as a document constituting clear vision of country's defence. The Paper will constitute a major overhaul of Czech defence and security policy and will set out the path to more modern, compact and reactive security and defence forces. By cutting the overall number of defence personnel, restructuring the defence estate will achieve cost reductions allowing to address more effectively the challenges and threats of the globalized world. It will allocate a substantial budget for defence, in line with the priorities and choices made for her defence capabilities. It will further reflect themes not mentioned before, such as relations between Common European Defence Policy and NATO alliance, new dimensions of civic security in cases of natural disasters, pandemic, or last but not least - terrorist attacks. The Czech White Report is going to make good use of similar documents of Allied nations.