Preparations for Exercise Slovak Shield enter their final phase (8 – 13 September) Historically, the most extensive international exercise in the contemporary history of the SVK Armed Forces – Exercise Slovak Shield – has entered its final stage of preparations. That preparations for the exercise had been underway was clear last week when military convoys moved along Slovakia’s roads. The exercise, to be held in September and October, will bring together 4,000 troops. Engaged in action will be a total of 600 pieces of military equipment, including main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. The exercise will be executed in several stages. The main part, an international tactical exercise to be conducted on Lešť Training Area, will number 1,600 troops from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and the United States of America. They will practise operating as a multinational joint task force. Just as in the previous phases of the exercise, troops will rehearse giving assistance to government bodies, strengthening the defence capabilities of the State, as well as securing the facilities of special importance and vital infrastructure. One of the training tasks will be the provision of the Host Country’s support to the U.S. military wheeled vehicles deploying to Exercise Brave Warrior in Hungary. “We are doing our best to get our troops involved in as many exercises as possible because that is the only way to prepare for crisis and emergency situations,” said Minister of Defence Martin Glváč.
● In the period from 10 to 14 September 2015, the unit earmarked to perform tasks in EUFOR-ALTHEA operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina underwent the final concentrated training on the premises of the military training area Turecký vrch. During training, the unit rehearsed movement along its own axis and assistantial tasks.
Modernization appreciated (10 September) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg paid a visit to the Slovak Republic for the first time since taking up his post as NATO chief. At their meeting, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Minister of Defence Martin Glváč discussed a range of topics, amongst others, the performance of the commitments that Slovakia declared at the NATO Wales Summit, the NATO Force Integration Units, and the adaptation of the Readiness Action Plan. “I would like to thank Slovakia for being a staunch and committed Ally for many years and for contributing to our common security,” said Mr Stoltenberg. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Glváč said: “We confirmed that we are meeting our obligations to invest in modernization and reaffirmed our commitment to spend 1.6 % of GDP on defence by 2020. Moreover, we informed the Secretary General that this year we have managed to secure extra funding for modernization projects, with our defence expenditures now edging towards 1.1 % of GDP.” He further noted that the MOD is already spending nearly 20 % of the defence budget on modernization of military hardware. “Slovakia is a committed Ally. The fact that you are increasing your budgetary expenditures is very important for the Alliance because this allows us to respond collectively to the security situation which is a lot more complicated today,” added Mr Stoltenberg. The extra funds allocated for the SVK MOD will go on extensive modernization projects such as the purchase of two Alenia C-27J Spartan tactical transport aircraft and the UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters. “All these acquisitions are directed towards increasing the quality and readiness of our Armed Forces. We have also brought up the number of military exercises in Slovakia with participation of our Allies, as best evidenced by Exercise Slovak Shield, which will reinforce our collective defence capabilities,” said Mr Glváč.
● On 8 September 2015, on the occasion of the Constitution Day, Director of Military Police Col Milan Hamár awarded the Military Police Medals 3rd Grade (bronze) to Col Róbert Totkovič, Deputy Director of the Training Center Lešť of the SVK MoD; to Col Tibor Králik, Chief of the Operational Planning Division of the SVK General Staff; and to Col Miroslav Lorinc, Commander of the Anti-aircraft missile brigade of the SVK Air Force, for their significant contribution to development of cooperation with Military Police.
Cooperation between archives (11 September) Josef Žikeš, Director of the Prague-based Central Military Archives and Jozef Petráš, Director of Military Archives – Trnava Central Registry of the SVK MoD, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the upcoming period and, at the same time, they assessed co-operation of the both institutions in the past year. Owing to the fact that, after the split of the federation, by virtue of the delimitation protocol, all the personal files of generals, commissioned officers and non-commissioned officers who had served in the former federal army until the split of Czechoslovakia remained to be held in Trnava archives, the Slovak Military Archives, through the Czech Archives, issue to those who are to-date the Czech citizens, all sorts of certificates, duplicates and photocopies of a wide variety of instruments and documents those persons need e.g for the purposes of asserting claims related to social welfare or to the Act on participation in the third resistance.
● In compliance with the 2015 plan of activities of Military Police, on 9 September 2015, the Military Council of Director of Military Police was held on the premises of the Police Enforcement Support Division in Trenčín, with all the top officials attending the event. The event was aimed at enhancing effectiveness of communication and at increased cooperation between the individual divisions of Military Police. Equally, this was a forum where the primary tasks were established, that should be addressed by Military Police in the on-going training period. ● In the period of 3 – 20 September 2015, members of the SVK Air Force have been participating in the international aerial exercise dubbed AMPLE STRIKE 2015 held in the Czech Republic. The exercise ranks among the biggest international aerial exercises in the European region. The exercise AMPLE STRIKE 2015 is primarily aimed at co-ordination of activities of tactical aviation pilots and those of the forward air controllers during the ground support of the land forces. 17 NATO countries to include the Slovak Republic are taking part in the exercise. As for the SVK Air Force, 40 members of its members with two L -39 aircraft from the tactical wing Sliač and Mi-17 helicopter from the helicopter wing Prešov take part in said exercise.
Service members evaluate modernization positively
www.mosr.sk/ebulletin/
(7 September) The ongoing modernization process of the Slovak Armed Forces’ military equipment and arsenal of armaments is viewed positively by 73.7 % of Service personnel. This follows from an internal opinion survey conducted throughout the military units and the MOD’s organizational components. The opinion survey has demonstrated that the ongoing modernization process is viewed positively especially by those soldiers who serve with the military units where modernization has already taken place and by those who have served on active duty with the Armed Forces for a longer period of time – 16 years and over. “The crucial point is that soldiers can see the changes at work and are aware that we are exerting maximum efforts to improve their working conditions,” said Minister of Defence Martin Glváč. The opinion survey has revealed that when it comes to modernizing equipment, active duty soldiers give priority to clothing, vehicles, firearms, infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) and
eBULLETIN MoD SR
„After the division of the archive materials of the Czechoslovak Army, our archives are still tied with an umbilical cord. On a daily basis we address the issues involving the both armies and other government or municipal bodies, as well as the matters posed by the individual citizens living on the both banks of the river Moravia,” said Jozef Petráš. In the past year only, Trnava archives responded to 3154 requests, and until August this year the number is 2512. Director J. Žikeš expressed his utmost satisfaction with cooperation and he awarded the two employees of the Military Archives – Trnava Central Registry of the SVK MoD with the Commemorative badge of the Director of the Central Military Archives in Prague. combat systems. The respondents were also asked to express their opinion on unexpected combat readiness verification tests and on training exercises, which were considerably stepped up last year. Most of the respondents agreed that such verification tests would improve the readiness of troops to conduct missions and considered them as an excellent way of verifying the readiness levels and quality of troops. Every second military respondent noted that unexpected readiness verification tests should be conducted more frequently. The opinion survey was also aimed at collecting the views of soldiers on the extent to which our Armed Forces are ready to conduct selected tasks in the area of their responsibility. The prevailing view of the respondents is that the Armed Forces are ready to perform most of the selected tasks such as providing assistance to domestic citizens during natural disasters and floods, executing military missions on operations abroad, and intervening in a potential mass conflict emanating from extremism or ethnic violence on the territory of Slovakia.
September 7 - 13, 2015