Inzko: “Slovakia Is To Be Commended” (October 26) The MoD State Secretary Miloš Koterec met the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Valentin Inzko on Friday to discuss security issues and the international community actions in BiH. “Slovakia as a NATO and EU member state supports the integration ambitions of Bosnia and Herzegovina; it is in our interest that this country is a stabile building block of the security in the Western Balkans,“ said Koterec. He acknowledged the work of Valentin Inzko in the job of the High Representative for BiH and stressed that from a security viewpoint we consider important that the EUFOR ALTHEA operation remained capable to take action if necessary using its existing executive tools. Slovakia has contributed to EUFOR ALTHEA from the very start, and shall keep its contribution for as long as necessary. At the same time we are taking necessary steps to be able to declare our contribution to the immediate reserve forces for EUFOR ALTHEA, the core of the executive part of the operation, for a period of one year starting January 1, 2013. Valentin Inzko pointed out that assisting BiH is a matter important to the whole Europe. In this regard he acknowledge Slovakia´s attitude: “From the very start you have supported the peaceful solution of the problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the responsibility that the international community has for such. You have supported, and still do, the continuation of the EUFOR ALTHEA mandate, including its executive part, and Slovakia is to be thanked and commended for that,“ said Inzko.
Fort Pribina 2012 (October 25) Early Monday morning Col. Ján Bujňák, the Commander of the 1st Mechanized Brigade from Topoľčany opened the ba alion tac cal exercise FORT PRIBINA at the Lešť training area. Several months of prepara ons of various components of the 12th Ba alion Group, which was the main priority in the 2012 training year, culminated in this exercise. “Each individual capability acquired by the Slovak Armed Forces contributes to their versa lity in handling crisis management at home and abroad,” said Defense Minister Mar n Glváč a er witnessing the test of readiness of the 12th Mechanized Ba alion Group from Nitra. The Group is now cer fied to act within a mul na onal task group in opera ons under the NATO command. On the basis of evalua ons performed by a commission, formed by members of the Land Forces Command, the ba alion was successfully cer fied on October 24, 2012. “There are crisis spots and situa ons in the world. To help minimize their number, we have to have ready troops and equipment. Therefore we will do what it takes to improve the current economic condi ons,” said Glváč. The Fort Pribina 2012 exercise was conducted at Lešť from October 4 to October 26, 2012. Its goal was to pracce the performance of tasks in realis c condi ons to evaluate the task group combat readiness. An important part of the exercise was to harmonize the ac vi es of commanders in the field. On Thursday the President of the Slovak Republic and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Ivan Gašparovič visited Lešť to inspect the readiness of the troops. He said it was necessary to make sure not only this ba alion, but all the troops were well prepared. “To be able to deploy where NATO needs them, and more generally to posions where necessary,” said Gašparovič. The Commander of the 12th Mechanized Ba alion Group Lt. Col. Štefan Acsai reported that the Group is ready to fulfill tasks as a “deployable force within NATO”. In his words, the exercise was planned as a peace opera on, which means that the forces performed peacekeeping dues the same way NATO forces do abroad.
● The Air Force Rapid Response System and the NATO Integrated Air Defense System (NATINADS) in the context of the broad spectrum of duties performed by the Command, Management and Reconnaissance Brigade were the main topic of a debate among participants in the Armed Forces Academy National Security Course. During their visit to the Operations Center the Commander of the Brigade Col. Juraj Grivna and the Commander of the Operation Center Lt. Col. Rastislav Fides explained the role and duties of the Slovak Air Force and its subordinate units in maintaining the integrity and sovereignty of both the Slovak and NATO airspace. ● From Oct. 18 to Oct. 23, 2012 members of the Regional Department of Communication and Information Systems Prešov collaborating with the LYNX, Ltd. Company carried out the inspection and maintenance work on the external technological containers at Krúžok, Makovica, Kojšovská Hoľa and Lysá locations, which provide connectivity within the stationary military radio-relay network. The maintenance work included i.e. scrapping corrosion and repainting, repairing doors and resealing. ● The ground search-and-rescue exercise involving the air S&R team from the Prešov Helicopter Wing was held on Oct. 23, the scenario of the exercise being the loss of contact with the crew during a training flight of the Mi-17 helicopter in the Prešov area. The exercise was witnessed by observers from the Military Aviation Office. One S&R helicopter took off from the Prešov airbase and conducted search-and-rescue operations at the suspected crash site. ● Accredited NATO Explosive Ordnance Disposal Center of Excellence (EOD CoE) organized the fourth training cycle for staff officers. Personnel from several NATO members states (Belgium, France, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia) concluded their training in a three-day exercise. On October 26, 2012 successful graduates were awarded certificates along with staff officer badges. They are now certified to work in their national EOD contact centers (battalion level) or to take jobs in the multinational structure of the EOD coordination center in operations under the NATO command. ● A feast of forgiveness was held on October 22 in a newly established military parish of the blessed John Paul II at the Kuchyňa Transport Wing. The feast was celebrated by the Malacky parish priest along with the priest of the local military parish Slavko Ganaj and 16 more priests of the Malacky district. The Commander of the Transport Wing Col. Peter Prokop, the Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Tibor Pavel and the soldiers and civilian employees of the Wing were among the attendees. On the order of the Vatican, from now on the celebrations dedicated to the blessed John Paul II will be held at this parish annually on October 22, on the day John Paul II was inaugurated to the office of the Pope (October 22, 1978).
On Monday, Oct. 29 a ernoon Radio Regina Košice Military Feature will air an interview with the Commander of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade Col. Mar n Michalka on the current tasks of his unit in the upcoming exercise firing live an -tank rockets. On Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 4:47 p.m. Radio Slovakia Military Feature will visit blood donors at the MoD. PROFFESIONAL aired by the Slovak TV on Wednesday at 11:45 p.m. with two reruns on Nov. 1 at 2:50 p.m. and on Nov. 6 at 6:50 a.m. is dedicated to the professionals of the Rožňava Radiological, Chemical and Biological Protec on Ba alion, who have excelled in the recent HAVRAN exercise dedicated to the domes c crisis management.
Ineffective Intelligence?
www.mosr.sk/ebulletin/
(October 23) In 2011 the Military Intelligence services spent around one million EUR ineffec vely, said Defense Minister Mar n Glváč, repea ng that there had not been a worse year for military intelligence than 2011. “From economic problems to se ng unduly low goals, the main tasks have not been fulfilled properly. They had failed to meet the expecta ons, were affected by the misconcep on of certain decisions, poor personal leadership and economic malnutri on. They had also failed to address the issue of performing several ac vi es parallel with the Armed Forces,” said Glváč enumera ng the problems. In his words, the nature of the report on military intelligence was in evalua ng the conceptuality of the services, or rather a lack of it; the way the services were managed and what effect the turbulences, which plagued our poli cal scene, had on those services and their ac vi es. The lack of conceptual approach s ll costs MoD a lot of money, said Glváč.
27 Mil To State Defense Support (October 24) In the upcoming five years Slovakia plans to invest more than 27 million EUR in the interagency State Defense Support program. The funds should pay for subprograms overseen by the MoD, and the ministries of transport, interior and health, says the document submitted by the MoD for review. The lion's share should be allocated to projects creating and maintaining state material reserves meeting the demands of the Armed Forces. The Health Ministry should focus on maintaining medical facilities with 5.380 beds in 25 selected hospitals. “The regulations set within the constitutional law on the state security at the time of war, state of war, state of emergency and emergencies specify that it is up to the Health Ministry to adopt all measures necessary to protect lives and health of individuals,” says the document. The State Defense Support program outlines the tasks for the Transport Ministry in the next five years. Included are, among others, the task of securing negotiability of selected auto routes, and the task of constructing loading and unloading railroad ramps.
MFH Applies For Certification (October 22) A Slovak mobile field hospital (MFH) will apply for a certificate enabling it to deploy in NATO foreign missions. Members of the medical unit demonstrated their abilities during the Field Hospital 2012 exercise at the training facilities in Liptovský Mikuláš and Lešť. “In the course of the tactical exercise the ROLE 2E Mobile Field Medical Unit practiced real-life deployment of the field hospital, preventive medicine teams and rapid response teams for outbreak investigations,” said the Chief Military Medical Officer Vladimír Lengvarský. 99 military medics took part in the exercise along with 14 specialists from the Radiological, Chemical and Biological Protection Battalion. A team consisting of specialists from the Slovak Armed Forces, assisted by foreign observers from Poland, the Czech Republic and the Center of Excellence for Military Medicine in Budapest evaluated the performance of the field hospital team. Following a certification in 2013 the field hospital will be capable of deploying if necessary and pending the approval by the Slovak Parliament in military operations under the NATO command.
Way To Go, CSS MAT D-30! (October 24) 10/24/2012 became an important milestone for the Slovak D-30 122-mm howitzer Repair Unit deployed to the ISAF operation in Afghanistan as a part of the Combat Service Support Military Advisor Team (CSS MAT). They have finished the repair work on the first D-30 howitzer, which was then handed over to the Canon Company of the Combat Support Kandak Battalion belonging to the 4th Afghan National Army Brigade. In ten days Slovak repairmen managed to completely overhaul the weapons system, and handed over the fully functional howitzer. Following the test -firing stage the repaired D-30 howitzer will be put to use in supporting anti-guerilla operations in the province. Howitzer repair specialists were deployed to ISAF in September 2012. The repair team operates within the multinational SVK-USA-AUS CSS MAT. During presentations of CSS MAT D-30 capabilities, both the Afghan colleagues and the coalition partners were enthusiastic about the expected benefits resulting from the group's work. Unexpectedly, the PAD-2 mobile automobile workshop made in 1958 became the most admired piece of equipment presented. The role of CSS MAT D-30 is to provide assistance and advise the 4th Afghan National Army Brigade dislocated in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, in maintaining and developing fire support capabilities benefiting combat units deployed in the stabilization operation throughout the province.
eBULLETIN MoD SR
October 22 - 28, 2012