Wounded Soldiers’ Condition Improves (October 31) Condition of the members of the AF SR, Matej Mach and Martin Chropovský, who suffered serious wounds on 9 July 2013 at the Kandahar airfield, is rapidly improving. „The fact that they were perfectly fit contributed significantly to their recovery,” said the Minister of Defence of the SR Martin Glváč during the press conference attended by the above mentioned soldiers. Both of them expressed their thanks to the commander of the squad Miroslav Staník, to their colleagues and doctors in Afghanistan, Germany and Slovakia, for saving their lives. Whether Martin and Matej will continue to serve in the Armed Forces is dependent on their health condition. According to the Chief of the General Staff of the AF SR, Lieutenant General Peter Vojtek, currently they are home to recover. “If they prove to be capable of further service, they will certainly continue to serve. However, the criteria for the service are very strict. So far they are given maximum care within social programs and we do our best to ensure their early recovery.” In the incident, Sergeant Daniel Kavuliak was killed and four other soldiers suffered light injuries. The Afghan attacker was caught after the incident but he escaped from the Afghan National Army custody. The Ministry of Defence of the SR, together with other organizations and agencies, seeks how to get the attacker’s name on the list of the most wanted terrorists. To date, he has been put on the Schengen list of undesirable aliens and on the American list of undesirable persons for consular purposes.
● On Monday, 28 October, in the presence of the Commander of the Transportation wing of General Milan Rastislav Štefánik Kuchyňa, Colonel Peter Prokop, and the Chief of Staff of the Transportation wing Kuchyňa Lieutenant Volonel Tibor Pavel, the airmen from the Transportation wing Kuchyňa paid tribute to all who lost their lives while performing their service duties home or abroad. The commemorative ceremony started at the Memorials of the perished aviators, who died in 1936 and 1949 when performing tasks of the aviator flight training. Later on, it continued at the Memorial of Colonel in memoriam František Max. The final commemorative meeting was held at the Monument to victims of AN-24 crash in 2006.
Visit from Brazil
www.mosr.sk/ebulletin/
(October 28) At the press conference held a!er the mee"ng with Brazilian Minister of Defence, Celso Amorim, the Minister of Defence of the SR Mar"n Glváč stated that the coopera"on between the Slovak Republic and Brazil has been in stagna"on for the last 15 years, and it is "me to dynamize the mutual rela"ons. This was historically the Þrst official visit of Minister Amorim to Slovakia and, at the same "me, his only visit to any of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe this year. “As for military ma%ers, we have agreed on possible Þelds where we could cooperate, and these Þelds shall be further discussed by representa"ves from both sides. We have offered to Brazilian counterparts our outstanding Military Training Area Lešť and the Centre of Excellence in Trenčín, with a lot of trainings available. Simultaneously, I have informed my Brazilian partner about the situa"on concerning the Aircra! Repair Company Trenčín JSC and the planned interna"onal tender,” said Minister Glváč. From the economic perspec"ve, the Defence Department wants to present Slovak equipment in such way that it can be successful also abroad. For this purpose, the Department prepared an exhibi"on of military equipment. The Brazil’s Minister could see vehicles Tatra, howitzer Zuzana, demining system Božena, Aligator, remote detector of chemical and biological warfare agents and toxic gases, combat tower and communica"ons system. The Brazilian Minister conÞrmed that Brazil has great interest not just in bilateral coopera"on, but also in broader collabora"on of the countries in the region. “The aim of my visit is to map the situa"on and possibili"es of future coopera"on. For instance, we could cooperate within peacekeeping missions; Brazil always engages abroad only under the auspices of UN. Further, we are interested in training, for example, in the Þeld of cyber defence and suchlike,“ said Celso Amorim. Brazil is also very keen on developing partnership "es with Slovak companies. „We are interested in some aspects concerning, for instance, unmanned aerial vehicles and their opera"on. Besides an official gi!, the head of Brazilian department was given an ice hockey jersey with his name on it. „We also talked about sports, and my Brazilian colleague knew that the no.1 sport in our country is ice hockey, and that’s why we gave him the jersey, “ explained Mar"n Glváč.
● Members of the Land Forces HQ and command support battalion met on 30 October at the Memorial commemorating the Kragujevac fighters, which is located in Trenčín barracks, to pay tribute to all who lost their lives in war conflicts, peacekeeping missions or while performing their duties, as well as to all the deceased. Deputy Commander of the Land Forces Colonel of the GS Karol Navrátil laid a wreath at the Memorial and in his speech he reminded the traditions honouring the fallen soldiers to whom we owe a debt of esteem and gratitude.
Largest Alliance Exercise
(October 29) The members of the AF SR participated in the largest allied exercise of the NATO Response Forces (NRF) entitled STEADFAST JAZZ 2013, which was held in Poland, Estonia and Latvia. The exercise is held from 29 October to 9 November on the territory of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Norway and Poland. It is aimed at harmonization and certification of NRF units, which will be in 2014 in a state of permanent readiness to deployment. 23 members of the chemical, biological and radiological defence battalion from Rožňava, as well as 5 members of the Mobile Communications and Information Systems Base from Ružomberok have their place in the configuration of the allied forces.
● On 31 October, members of the mixed wing Sliač memorialized their deceased colleagues who had lost their lives, be that while performing their duties or otherwise. The commemorative ceremony was held at the Memorial to the allied missions in the SNU, in the presence of the Deputy Commander of the wing Lieutenant Colonel Martin Hronec. ● A joint training was held for military fire fighting units of the Air Force of the AF of the SR in the premises of the Institute of special health care and training of MoD SR Lešť (ISHCT). Members of these units from military airbases in Kuchyňa, Sliač, Prešov, attended the training, together with the fire fighting squad from the Air Command, Control and Surveillance Brigade (ACCSB) Zvolen, and in close cooperation with the Rescue Service Bratislava and members of the dressing station of the ACCSB Zvolen. The training was finished by an all-day tactical training session. ● On 29 October, the annual 17th Combat Shooting Competition of the Director of Military Police and the 7th Lt. Col. Ľuboš Belák Memorial Contest were held in the Training centre and military police cynology in Vlkanová – Hronsek. Shooters competed in four parkours. The winning team was the District Directorate of Police Forces Banská Bystrica. Peter Karniš, competing for the ISHCT Lešť (Institute of special health care and training of MoD SR Lešť), became the Military Police Champion in combat shooting for the year 2013 in the individuals’ competition. The title of the best shooter of Military Police was awarded to Michal Hanes from the Military Police Unit in Banská Bystrica.
Paying Tribute to Personages
(October 31) On the last day of October, the Chief of the General Staff of the AF SR Lt. Gen. Peter Vojtek visited the reverential places in the cemetery Slávičie údolie, Bratislava. Accompanied by the commander of the mixed wing Sliač Col. Vladimír Lisý, deputy commander of the helicopter wing Prešov Lt. Col. Peter Fabišík and the senior non-commissioned officer of the AF SR Sgt. Maj. Vladimír Beluš, they visited the last resting place of Major General Otto Smik and Colonel General Ján Ambruš. The Chief of the General Staff of the AF SR paid tribute also to the Soviet heroes who participated in the fight for freedom of our country.
M. Glváč: „V4 is a Reputable Trademark”
(October 29) After the joint negotiation of the V4 Defence Ministers with the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Brazil Celso Amorim, Martin Glváč concluded that the V4 group is viewed by defence departments as a solid “trademark”. The meeting in such configuration has been held for the first time. “We informed the Brazilian counterpart of our joint activities and introduced pro-
eBULLETIN MoD SR
spective platforms of potential cooperation – be it bilateral cooperation or cooperation within the V4 group,” stated the Slovak Minister. In their discussion, they raised the issues of cooperation in the field of cyber defence, aviation, special units or education. Martin Glváč informed that Slovakia intends to establish the Military Attaché Office in Brazil, which will coordinate the joint activities. The Czech Minister of Defence Vlastimil Picek pointed out that the Czech Republic cooperates with Brazil not only in the field of military but also in the field of defence industry. According to the Polish Minister of Defence Tomasz Siemoniak, the meeting in Bratislava proved that the V4 group can be an excellent partner also to the non-European countries. He said he could imagine effective cooperation also in the field of military aviation or among the special units. Hungary was represented at the meeting by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence Tamás Vargha.
October 28 - November 3, 2013