5th special forces regiment passed certification (16 November) Žilina-based 5th Special Forces Regiment has crowned the national certification Salamander 2015 with success. It was held in accordance with NATO standards, and evaluated and tested capabilities of the Special Operations Task Group designated for NATO. “The certification is another landmark in our history. By completing it, we have confirmed our legitimate membership of NATO Special Operations Forces. We are gradually changing the relatively long process of deploying troops into risky regions so that our troops rank among the top which is ready to deploy anywhere in the world within five days,” stated the 5th Regiment Commander, Col Ľubomír Šebo. The certification was supervised by a monitoring team from the NATO Special Forces Command. “The certification exercise took place over two weeks. One part was held in the form of testing the unit’s preparedness to perform tasks on the grounds of the 5th Special Forces Regiment with the focus on the preparedness of plans and materiel. Then we executed an inspection at the Training Centre Lešť directed at testing practical skills and capabilities of the unit in the whole spectrum of special forces operations. After summarizing partial evaluations, the unit was assessed as fully capable to perform tasks,” noted the Chief of the SVK General Staff Special Forces Department and certification team director, Col Svetozár Bohuš. Since 2008, Žilina-based 5th Special Forces Regiment has undergone a whole range of joint trainings organized together with foreign partners, especially from the U.S., the Czech Republic and Poland. The regiment also participates in mentoring the Afghan troops. ● The introductory planning conference on the international exercise of the air defence units dubbed Tobruq Legacy 2016 was held on 3 – 5 November on the premises of the Antiaircraft Missile Brigade based in Nitra, with 46 representatives of the Czech Republic, Hungary, the US, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia attending the conference. The SVK Armed Forces were represented by members of the Air Force HQ Zvolen, Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade Nitra, Tactical, Transportation and Helicopter Wing, Mobile Communications and Information System Base Ružomberok and Training Area of the Military District Lešť. Tobruq Legacy 2016 is included in the Military Training and Exercise Programme (MEP) for 2016, open for NATO countries. The first annual exercise held in the Czech Republic has earned a good reputation and the fact that NATO countries evince interest in taking part in the exercise speaks volumes about the same.
We are ready to help (20 November) At the Foreign Affairs Council session at the level of defence ministers, France emphasized that the terrorist attacks in Paris were an armed attack on France as well as the whole EU. In this difficult situation, France decided to ask the EU member states for special assistance. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian invoked the Article 42.7 of the Treaty on European Union, which states that “if a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power”. “We have expressed our solidarity with France and following the article on mutual assistance, we are ready to responsibly examine and respond to France’s requests,” noted SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč. At the session, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Defence Policy, Federica Mogherini, called on the member states to stand united and offered the EU’s coordination of their assistance. “Within our capabilities, we are ready to continue in our counter-terrorism efforts. However, we have to wait for detailed requests on how we could help France with the fight against the so-called Islamic State,” said the State Secretary of the SVK MOD, Miloš Koterec. On 20 November, the State Secretary of the SVK MOD and Ambassador of France to Slovakia Didier Lopinot opened negotiations on military assistance to France. Primarily, France asks for support in missions abroad so it is able withdraw part of its troops and concentrate on fight against terrorism. “We are able to provide capabilities in the field of CBRN protection, experts on logistics and explosive ordnance disposal, staff officers, intelligence services as well as special units. However, the concrete specifications are subject to the discussions of the armed forces of both states,” concluded Miloš Koterec.
● On 16 November, a handover/takeover ceremony was held on the occasion of the change of command in the CSS Battalion. Lt Col Jozef Ivan was appointed to the post of the CSS Battalion Commander. Col Miroslav Ollé, Commander of the Combat Service Support Brigade Trenčín, expressed his appreciation to Maj Erik Lehotský, Deputy Battalion Commander, for the job well-done while being in command. ● The three-day-workshop was held at the SVK Land Forces HQs based in Trenčín, with the objective to produce the Land Forces’ baseline documents to enable planning for the next training year. The workshop was opened by Chief of Staff at the Land Forces HQ Col of the GS Karol Navrátil. The outcome of the workshop is a synchronization matrix, a text section and a calendar plan to the Plan of Preparation of the SVK Land Forces and SVK Land Forces HQ in the next training year 2016. ● The second annual autumn two-day-workshop of the SVK Armed Forces and Armed Corps Ecumenical Pastoral Service members opened on 19 November in Svätý Jur by a lecture delivered by Ľubomír Batka, Dean of the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Faculty of the Comenius University Bratislava, on the theme of the migration crisis and evangelical social science. The participants held discussion on security development in Europe, in the presence of Chief of Staff for Support Operations at the SVK General Staff Brig Gen Daniel Zmeko. ● On 12 November, Force Commander of UNFICYP Maj Gen Kristin Lund carried out an inspection in Sector 4, in command of which is currently Lt Col Miroslav Belanský. The inspection focused primarily on the operations division and its capacity and capability to respond to an emergency. It was aimed at testing interoperability of troops, their response and also at ensuring an unimpeded flow of information among the individual elements of the sector during a simulated situation in the buffer zone. The troops’ ability to respond to a possible incident in the area of operations was put to the test, as well as their expertise in crowd control, by the crowd being meant farmers demonstrating in the buffer zone. Maj Gen Lund expressed satisfaction with the course of the inspection as well as with the results achieved.
Defence department’s budget shall see one of the biggest rises
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(16 November) According to the government’s proposal, the SVK MOD’s budget for fiscal year 2016 shall see one of the biggest rises from among all ministries. Additional financial resources are primarily allocated for modernization projects. By using the resources more effectively and increasing expenditures on modernization, the SVK MOD meets the commitments to which the Slovak Republic has made pledges. While in 2008 the previous government earmarked only 8% for modernization, in 2013 the amount rose to 16%, and currently the expenses on modernization are almost 19%. Thanks to that the SVK MOD managed to kick off the largest modernization projects in the history of the SVK Armed Forces, such as purchase of Black Hawk multi-purpose helicopters or Spartan aircraft. “The fact that we took the right course was appreciated also by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. According to him, increasing budget expendi-
tures enable us to better respond to the security situation, which is nowadays more difficult,” briefed SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč. The Military Intelligence Service has started to be run more effectively as well. In comparison with the situation in the past, it concentrates on intelligence activities and its contribution is highly appreciated by foreign partners. “We have responded to what the defensiveness and security of the Slovak Republic requires. Besides initiating the largest modernization projects and increasing expenses on modernization, we have demonstrably reduced the operating costs of the Military Intelligence Service. The performance of intelligence activities has become more effective, control and executive structures of individual components of the Service have become more transparent, and duplication has been significantly reduced,” stated Minister Martin Glváč.
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Back from Trident Juncture (20 November) Slovak troops are back from Trident Juncture 2015, the biggest allied exercise this year. The exercise took place across the western Mediterranean, with the troops from all NATO countries and 7 PfP countries taking part in the exercise. Starting from September, 24 Slovak troops from Ružomberokbased deployable communications module C and nine more troops from different units of the SVK Armed Forces operated in Spanish Zaragoza. “The recent development has revealed that joint allied exercises are inevitable, as it is the only way how to prepare for the current security threats,” said SVK Minister of Defence Martin Glváč. As part of Trident Juncture 2015, the Slovak specialists performed the tasks of developing and ensuring operation of the communications and information systems. The others operated at the Headquarters and within the joint logistic support group. For the SVK Armed Forces, in the exercise took part Brig Gen Ľubomír Sloboda, Deputy Chief of Staff at Joint Force Command, Brunssum, the Netherlands.
Visit to exercise (19 November) The joint V4 exercise Common Challenge 2015, held in the training area Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland, passed through its final stage. At the same time, it was the final certification exercise of the V4 European Battle Group. At the end of the exercise, the activities of the individual units of the Battle Group were performed, in the presence of the invited representatives from the V4 countries. The Slovak Republic was represented by Chief of the General Staff of the SVK Armed Forces Lt Gen Milan Maxim. Twenty five members of the SVK Armed Forces, operating at the Operational Headquarters designated to control the V4 European Battle Group during the exercise, took part in the V4 EU BG HQ opening ceremony. On the occasion of the ceremonial act, the representatives of the armed forces of the Visegrad group countries signed the Agreement on technical, financial and other aspects applicable during the stand-by period of the V4 EU BG. At the ceremony, the SVK Armed Forces were represented by Chief of Staff of the Strategic Planning at the SVK General Staff Brig Gen Ivan Hirka.
With soldiers on borders
(17 November) On the occasion of Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day, a commemorative event entitled “Come with Us to the Borders” took place at the BS-8 military bunker at Kopčianska Street in Petržalka, Bratislava. The event was organized by the Civic Association “Save Petržalka Bunkers” together with the Military History Institute, the local authority of the town of Kittsee, Bratislava City Magistrate’ s Office and the SVK Armed Forces. Members of Bratislava-based Recruitment Group prepared a static display of a modular lightweight loadcarrying equipment, which the visitors could try on and learn something about present-day armed forces.
November 16 - 22, 2015