“2014 Military Deed of the Year Award” results announced (22 June) Service members demonstrated last year as well that they were at the right time in the right place, providing assistance where it was most needed, concluded SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč, speaking to an audience of laureates at the 18th Military Deed of the Year Award ceremony. The winner in the “Rescue of Life” category was Col Ján Bujňák, who received the 2014 Military Deed of the Year Award on the grounds that he had saved the life of a person struck by lightning during a funeral ceremony by rendering first aid to him still before the arrival of medical personnel. For helping the Šoporňa – Štrkovec Social Services Facility for Children and Adults, members of the Engineer Battalion Sereď were the recipients of the Award in the Assistance to the Public category. Thanks to his years-long cooperation with the SVK MOD in promoting military history, Stanislav Mičev, Director of the Slovak National Uprising Museum, was presented the Award in the Friend of the Army category. Among the recognized personalities was also the TV JOJ anchorwoman Veronika Tóthová, the author of the documentary entitled Assassination Attack on Heydrich: A Story of Jozef Gabčík and Ján Kubiš, which reconstructs the key events leading up to the assassination of German Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich. She was awarded the SVK Minister of Defence Commemorative Medal, 3rd Grade, receiving the medal from the SVK MOD for her contribution to developing military awareness and traditions in the form of audio visual media.
Slovakia is meeting its obligations (24 June) The implementation of the Alliance’s Readiness Action Plan, the strengthening of collective defence and NATO’s eastern defences, the progress being made in bolstering the NATO Response Force (NRF), and the deployment of NATO’s Spearhead Force – Very High Joint Readiness Task Force (VJTF) dominated the agenda of the NATO defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels. In his response to the NATO defence ministerial, SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč said: “Gradually, we’ve been taking realistic steps towards Slovakia contributing to the NATO Response Force, and this is something our members of the Armed Forces have been working on intensely.” The defence ministers also addressed increasing defence budgets to follow up on the pledge made by Allied leaders at the NATO Wales Summit. In this respect, Martin Glváč reaffirmed Slovakia’s commitment to raise its defence budget up to 1.6 % of GDP by 2020, a figure which accounts for average defence spending across NATO/EU member states. While in Brussels, Minister Glváč signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment and Functioning of the Multinational Aviation Training Centre (MATC), a joint project being developed by the Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia. The project aims to establish a multinational aviation training centre in order to provide a wide range of training programmes for helicopter pilots, crews and technical support staff. The training programmes will be delivered by the training facilities of the participating countries. The lead nation of the MATC project is the Czech Republic, with the remit of coordinating vacancies in the participating countries’ training capacities. The Slovak Republic, as the first country from among the Eastern Allies, will commence replacing its fleet of Mi-17 helicopters with UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters as from 2016. With the signing of an additional signature clause to the FNC, the Slovak Republic signed up to the Framework Nations Concept, an initiative by Germany to reinforce the defence capabilities of NATO/EU member states. On the FNC initiative, Martin Glváč remarked: “It is important to demonstrate our commitment and ability to deal with threats.” He added that Slovakia welcomes the German initiative to unite the European Allies with the intent of cooperating to remove deficiencies within NATO’s priority capabilities.
● Jaselské Barracks in Topoľčany hosted a complex command staff training exercise, dubbed SLOVAK SHIELD 2015. Directed by the SVK Land Forces Headquarters, the exercise was running simultaneously with the command staff drills involving the 2nd Mechanized Brigade Prešov Command. It was aimed at delivering a one-level command staff exercise on 22-26 June, while giving the command staff personnel the opportunity to go through the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) and test the validity and relevance of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for securing the protection, communications and logistics support of the main command post. Also, it helped the participants to improve their skills in producing combat documentation; deepen their abilities to execute staff work; and test their competence in processing, recording and handling operational documentation. A two-level complex command staff training exercise SLOVAK SHIELD 2015, which also involved 70 exercising troops from the 1st Mechanized Brigade and its subordinate units, was successfully concluded on 26 June under the command of Col Vladimír Kubáň, GS, 1st Mechanized Brigade Commander. ● On Monday, 22 June, as part of their pre-deployment training in Week 3 of Phase III, a UNFICYP earmarked unit gearing up for the September rotation participated in a marksmanship exercise with personal weapons at the garrison firing range in Tomášikovo. The exercising troops were tested in firing the SER 58 machine gun at two forward running targets and a machine-gun nest, as well as in firing the SER 82 pistol at a non-covered lying human figure with circles. Their training programme went on at the Air Defence Missile Brigade Nitra’s Kolíňaský Vrch Garrison Training Area. There, as well as rendering medical assistance, transferring wounded and injured personnel from a vehicle to a helicopter, and extracting them by helicopter, the unit also practised observing and recording the situational developments in the area of responsibility, while airborne. The unit members marked the end of the training week by taking a written test. The overall training programme of the UNFICYP-bound unit will culminate this week with a joint tactical exercise. ● Mechanized components of the 12th Mechanized Battalion completed their section-sized training phase by executing a live fire exercise at the Devičany Tank/Infantry Training Range, with the aim of testing commanders in exercising command and control of section -level combat missions and shooting, and section-level soldiers in executing combat missions with the use of live ammunition. The training was conducted by day and at night. In the overall evaluation process, the exercising sections earned an “Excellent” rating. ● Supervised by the Chief of the Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Branch of the SVK Air Force Headquarters (SVK AF HQ), a gathering of ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) staff on methodological guidance was held on 17-18 June. The gathering was coordinated by personnel from the SVK AF HQ and the Operations Centre of the Command, Control and Surveillance Brigade in Zvolen, where the main programme of the methodological gathering took place. Among the contributors were also guests from the Armed Forces Academy in Liptovský Mikuláš – doc. Ing. Zdeněk Matoušek and doc. Ing. Ján Ochodnický – who delivered lectures on the latest trends in ELINT sources and procedures for analysing signals based on a block of intrapulse feature analysis of radar signal. During the practical part of the event, the participants familiarized themselves with the Operations Centre workstations at the Command, Control and Surveillance Brigade Zvolen as well as with ELINT tasks within the SVK Air Force Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) and NATINAMDS systems. A control flight to remote RATES posts located in mountainous terrain with difficult access was conducted from Sliač Airfield.
Military units deploy on field exercise (26 June) The complex training programme of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Defence Battalion units culminated in a field exercise on Lešť Training Area. For operations being conducted in performance of Slovakia’s obligations, the CBRN Defence Battalion has earmarked a CBRN Platoon to be embedded into the 21st Mechanized Battalion Group (21st Mech Bn Grp) and a CBRN Company, with self-sustaining logistics support, to be deployed with the V4 EU BG. The CBRN Platoon (21st Mech Bn Grp), led by Lt Peter Gál, successfully underwent platoonsized tactical drills. The CBRN Company (V4 EU BG), led by Marcel Uharček, participated in coordination drills with the other V4 EU BG units. This training culminated in a certification exercise in accordance with the NATO methodology for Combat Readiness Evaluation (CREVAL). After going through the CREVAL evaluation process, the units were deemed Combat Ready.
NATO’s recognition for Slovak expert (25 June) The NATO Meritorious Service Medal was awarded to Tibor Krutý, a Slovak IT specialist, at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Mons, Belgium. He works in the capacity of Chief of the Information Systems Support to NATO Operations Section with the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency). On behalf of the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, this valuable decoration was presented to him by Koen Gijsbers, General Manager of the NCI Agency. “Just being nominated for the award was a great success for me. Of course, this recognition belongs to the entire team and I appreciate it immensely,” said T. Krutý. According to Koen Gijsbers, Tibor Krutý stands out as an example of commitment, motivation and excellent performance to all his colleagues. Tibor Krutý received this highest distinction, which is presented to NATO military and civilian staff by the Alliance, for his exceptionally beneficial approach to performing duties in Afghanistan. The medal, being the personal Award of the Secretary General of NATO, is awarded annually to a very limited number of recipients.
Observation flight over Ukraine Based on the decision of the Open Skies Consultative Committee, OSCE, Slovakia and Poland carried out an aerial observation flight over the territory of Ukraine on 15-19 June. Executed in compliance with the Open Skies Treaty (OST), the observation flight itself took place on 17 June, using an An-30B aircraft, rented from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The 2,095-km flight route covered Western Ukraine. The preparation and execution of the flight was aimed at producing a valuable output – aerial photographs. These may be used for a wide community of experts. The Defence Planning Branch, SVK MOD, highly appreciated this form of cooperation with Poland, especially for its merit in developing bilateral political and military relations and in building a pool of experts by exchanging expertise and views on the development trends under the OST.
Professional Soldiers’ State Service Bill is an outcome of mutual agreement between SVK MOD and Armed Forces
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(26 June) The Professional Soldiers’ State Service Bill is an outcome of mutual agreement between the SVK MOD and the SVK Armed Forces. The amending proposals, put forward by service personnel, unit commanders and anonymous contributors, which had not been contained in the original draft legislation under the legislative review process were now worked into the Bill. The previous MOD leadership was supposed to commission drafting this high priority piece of legislation, however, it failed to do so. In his remarks on the draft legislation, SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč explained: “The aim of the Bill, which had been preceded by numerous debates with service members, is, first and foremost, to stabilize personnel and make active duty service more attractive. What’s more,
we’d like to get rid of the feelings of insecurity which are associated with the performance of State service and which are prompted by the legislation currently in force. Good news for all service personnel is that housing allowance will be preserved in spite of mounting pressures to omit it, though it will be renamed as stabilization allowance.” Armed Forces members will benefit from several positive changes in the Professional Soldiers’ State Service Act: the widely unpopular competitive selection of service personnel will be abolished; promotions will be simplified; the pay scale will incorporate two more pay grades; salaries of selected military ranks will rise over the entire active duty service; pay increases will affect even those pay grades which have
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reached the ceiling limit in the pay scale. “These are some of the motivating factors that will allow us to keep highly qualified service personnel in the system,” explained the Minister. Commenting on the draft legislation, Chief of the General Staff of the SVK Armed Forces Lt Gen Milan Maxim said: “All salary components, including bonuses and allowances, will be left intact. It is hugely positive that stabilization allowances will be introduced for professional soldiers from high-demand, low-density military occupational specialities and for highly qualified professional experts.” Lt Gen Milan Maxim added that he had taken enough time to thoroughly familiarize himself with the draft law and discuss it with service members.
Compared to the legislation currently in force, the Professional Soldiers’ State Service Act will introduce new types of active duty service – Short-Term State Service and Permanent State Service. Accordingly, service personnel will qualify for Permanent State Service upon completion of 17 years of service and will be entitled to serve until the age of 55. On the other hand, for those who are interested in serving under the Short-Term State Service provisions, the Act will offer greater flexibility. One of the changes in the career progression system is a more flexible approach to replenishing the officer corps. Towards this end, the Act will allow the transition of qualified and skilled non-commissioned officers to officers upon compliance with certain conditions.
June 22 - 28, 2015