Peter Vojtek quits as CHOD (April 22) Chief of the General Staff of the SVK Armed Forces Lt Gen Peter Vojtek has decided to quit his office on medical grounds. SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč accepted his decision and informed the public of his intent to submit to the SVK government a proposal to appoint Maj. Gen. Milan Maxim as the next Chief of the General Staff. Lt Gen Vojtek denied any link between his departure and a scandal involving the SVK Defence Intelligence Agency. As his greatest contribution to Defence, he views the adoption of the White Book on Defence of the Slovak Republic, the drafting of the Professional Soldiers' State Service Act, which is currently under legislative review, and the resetting of armaments investment processes. SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč thanked Lt Gen Vojtek for his work. Based on their mutual agreement, Lt Gen Vojtek is to become the Defence Minister´s new advisor on military affairs. “This will enable him to bring the processes which we launched to a successful conclusion, said the head of the Ministry of Defence.“ ● Members of the Military Council of Ground Forces Commander held a meeting on Friday, 25 April, at the Ground Forces Headquarters in Trenčín to discuss the current tasks. Following an introductory evaluation of tasks performance, Lt Col Oliver Toderiška, CBR Defence Battalion Commander, updated the audience on the preparation of the declared OPCW 2015 unit (OPCW – the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons). Col Martin Michalko then briefed the Council on the preparation of the declared IR ALTHEA and NRF 2015 units and on the performance of tasks undertaken by the 22nd Mechanized Battalion Group throughout its stand-by period. The meeting also addressed the conclusions from the training of the ISAF-bound unit, the analysis of the impact of the adopted Professional Soldiers' State Service Act on the manning levels in the enlisted rank category, and the performance of tasks in reviewing plans in the training year 2014. Finally, the Ground Forces Commander awarded the Commemorative Medals of the Minister of Defence to selected members of the Slovak Armed Forces to mark the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Slovakia’s entry into NATO.
Cooperation will be beneficial (April 24) The Slovak and Czech Republics will strengthen the coopera on of their Special Operaons Forces (SOFs). This follows from the Memorandum of Coopera on between the 5th Special Forces Regiment, SVK Armed Forces, and the 601st Special Forces Group, CZ Armed Forces, which was signed, following the delibera ons of the Slovak and Czech governments in Skalica, by SVK Minister of Defence Mar n Glváč and CZ Minister of Defence Mar n Stropnický. “Coopera on of elite forces will be beneficial for both sides. Thanks to conduc ng joint exercises, service personnel will be able to exchange prac cal experience and best prac ce. Training exercises will be held both in Slovakia and the Czech Republic,” said Minister Glváč. This move is expected to bolster coopera on between the SOFs as part of na onal and interna onal crisis management opera ons. The ministers also discussed further possibili es for coopera on. Among the priori es were joint procurement and moderniza on projects. “We have iden fied the first common overlaps in public bidding,” said the SVK Minister of Defence. “There have been very intense discussions underway on common acquisi on processes, because such a solu on is to be economical for both countries,” acknowledged Stropnický. The Slovak and Czech Republics are working towards aligning their forces by ramping up the intensity of joint exercises. “Coopera on will also be geared towards a joint response to crisis emergencies in border areas. Towards this end, there are plans to organize a joint exercise for engineers, aimed at allevia ng the effects of catastrophes,” explained Glváč.
● A Chief of Staff handover ceremony took place in Rožňava on 23 April, when Maj Roman Bobaľ, the outgoing Chief of Staff, Rocket Launcher Detachment, bid his farewell after his eightmonth assignment with the Rožňava-based artillerymen. His post was taken over by Maj Ľubomír Bodnár, who had hitherto served as Chief of Staff at the Michalovce-based Self-Propelled Artillery Detachment. ● Snipers from the Reconnaissance and Command Support Companies, 2nd Mechanized Brigade, participated in a joint intensive preparation from 14 to 16 April at the Ruská Nová Ves Garrison Training Grounds. The training was split into three stages. Divided into teams, snipers focused on planning, predeployment preparation and execution of special tasks, including tactical training and shooting. As part of their training, they went through a range of workstations, such as target identification and distance determination, which prove to be vital for intelligence exploitation, providing the most up-to-date information up the channel of command. The following day the Ruská Nová Ves Garrison Training Grounds hosted, among others, a competition for the “Best 2nd Mech Bn Sniper” title. ● In an effort to reconstruct and modernize the operating theatres at the Topoľčany Hospital, two PMZJ ROLE 2E container workstations were deployed in the medical facility. The modules are comprised of two operating theatres, and storage and working compartments. A total of 18 ISO containers and 9 tent-based sectors cover an area of 390 m2. The complex will be used also for practical training of selected surgical teams for the BG EU 2016. ● A platoon-sized group of members of the Engineer Battalion from Sereď have been engaged in erecting fences around the premises of Military Unit 1056 Zemianske Kostoľany. Despite the difficult rugged terrain conditions, characteristic of Vtáčnik and its environs, the work is progressing at a quick pace. The expertise of experienced engineers is highly valued in this environment. They have so far erected nearly half of the 1,600-metre perimeter fence.
Conference on SNU
(April 24) The Banská Bystrica-based Slovak National Uprising Museum hosted an international conference entitled The Slovak National Uprising – Slovakia and Europe in 1944. Held between 23 and 25 April, the event was organized by the SNU Museum in Banská Bystrica and the Institute of Military History in Bratislava, greatly aided by the Slovak History Community's Military History Department (Slovak Academy of Sciences (SASs)), the Institute of History (SASs), the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica and J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. The programme was captivating: Peter Šumichrast focused on Slovak aviation in 1944, Milena Balcová addressed the issues of the Slovak Army's Technical Corps, Jozef Bystrický centred on the Slovak soldiers serving with the Czechoslovak Army in 1944, and František Csefalvay portrayed the partisans in the defensive resistance movement. Also noteworthy were the views of Serbian and Slovenian historians, as well as the Polish perspective on the Slovak National Uprising, while the Israeli historian Ješajahu Andrej Jelinek highlighted the less known involvement of the Jewish citizens in the SNU.
Military Policemen at Lešť
(April 25) The training grounds of the Lešť Training Centre hosted a command-staff exercise involving members of the NATO Multinational Military Police Battalion (MNMPBN). Formed of Military Police (MP) personnel from Poland, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Slovakia, the NATO MNMPBN was established in response to the requirements of the NATO Prague Summit in 2002. The battalion´s command rotates on a year-to-year basis. This year the NATO MNMPBN is led by Polish COM Lt Col Mateusz Dadal, Slovak DCOM Maj Jaroslav Slančík, and Maj Marián Turanský as Chief of Staff. Besides the military police units from the four countries, also in attendance at MTA Lešť were two military policemen from Germany as observers. As early as this May, the NATO Multinational Military Police Battalion will undergo a simulation exercise at the Academy of Defence in Brno and a training exercise at MTA Březina near Vyškov in the Czech Republic in late September and early October.
M. Glváč: Changes in the Maintenance Contract bring better terms & conditions
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(April 22) Speaking at a press conference at the MOD on 22 April, Minister of Defence of the Slovak Republic Martin Glváč informed that the MOD officials had succeeded in negotiating better terms and conditions of the On-Demand Repair and Maintenance Contract: “Now we will pay only for airworthy aircraft. We delineated the rights and responsibilities of both parties to the contract, so that we can perform the commitments under the NATINADS system and the obligations in respect of pilot training.” The changes in the On-Demand Repair & Maintenance Contract bring direct benefits in terms of ensuring aircraft airworthiness and replenishing spare components by RSK MiG. The head of the Defence Ministry reminded that it was necessary to ensure the airworthiness of our fighter aircraft until 2016, in other
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words, until the end of the contract's validity period. The condition of our aircraft is now better, and we´ve managed to improve the performance of training tasks. Also improved are the deliveries of spare components and the number of available aircraft. Furthermore, Minister of Defence Glváč informed of the SVK MOD having adopted the “Slovak Air Force Concept” at the ministerial level. “It is pragmatic, real, divided into stages, and what's more, it clearly demonstrates what and when we will procure in succession. We have found nothing like this left by our predecessors,” said the minister. In the words of Slovak Air Force Commander Brig Gen Miroslav Korba, the SVK Air Force Concept is aligned with the White Book on Defence of the Slovak Republic: “By implementing the concept, we expect greater efficiency and flight safety.”
April 22 - 27, 2014