English annotation

Our Objectives on the Road to Joining NATO by Ing. Karel Pezl. Less than a year separates us from the entry to the Atlantic Alliance. In the course of this very short period, the whole republic must perform a lot of work, actually not only within the army by itself, but in all sections of Czech society. Therefore, the author of this article, military advisor to the President of the CR, points out the core spheres we must concentrate on, basic tasks and their solution. The main subject of his reflections are activities as follows: ratification process, defence laws, concept documents, the preparedness of the army for new missions, the system of defence planning and economy problems connected with our practical admission to NATO.

Problems of Defence Planning and Admission of the CR into NATO by Col. GSO Ing. Jaromír Kafka, Col. Ing. František Valach, CSc., Col. Doc. Ing. Jiří Strnádek, CSc. This article summarizes basic questions and objectives of defence planning in the CR, as far as the future connections to NATO are regarded. Its purpose is to name basic items of further force development and planning. In fact, now we are preparing new manual "Methods of Defence Planning of the Czech Republic" which is expected to influence all governmental and state organs and bodies. After our admission to NATO, this planning process is going to continue.

The Present Stage, Perspectives and the Use of Analyses for Decision-making Processes in the Defence Administration by Col. Ing. Oldřich Hoďánek. The impulse for the author to publish this article was his presence at the international symposium for PfP countries on the problems of operational analysis. The symposium was organized by the NATO Defence and Technology Committee and US Ministry of Defence, in the premises of Marshall Training Centre. In our country, the essential support for defence programmes and operational analyses is laid down in the draft of prepared "Defence Provisions Concept", as without effective support systems, especially in decision-making chains, is impossible for the military, at least from the point of NATO standards, to make the most of all material and financial sources.

ACR Approach to the CIS Integration into NATO Systems by Col. GSO Ing. Jiří Volín. The field of command and control (C2) is the most decisive one that is going to play the leading role in the process of integration of the Army of the Czech Republic (ACR) into the NATO Alliance. The questions of C2 support lie in the very heart of the whole process. That is why we lay stress on the development of Communication and Information Systems (CIS) which must be compatible with NATO armies. Since without a certain level of minimal CIS support of command and control is impossible to achieve much needed and declared interoperability.

Concept of Military System of Education and Following Connections by Col. Ing. Pavel Piar. The main purpose of this article is to explain a current concept of military school system, to present the character of school leavers, the role of social sciences departments in the whole process of education and training. He emphasizes the cooperation among individual military colleges, schools, training bases which provide introductory and further career training. Last but not least, we must not forget the indispensable role of the so-called back-feed, which is in fact mutual cooperation among units, institutions and higher commands, as well as among graduates from military schools.

MILITARY ART

Planning and Control of Operations in NATO by Lt.Col. GSO Ing. Jiří Halaška. To say shortly. the philosophy of preparation and practical realization of operations in the Alliance is quite simple. There is a place for an independence of commanders, their initiative, creativity, and even higher degree of responsibility. They consider problems as a sophisticated complex, formed by military, political, economical etc. aspects. Last but not least, the system of command authority comprises also multinational engagements. All levels of NATO command chain are closely linked, which enable parallel planning and conducting operations. All process of planning is more simple, because of strictly differentiated current and prospective planning.

Local Wars and Armed Conflicts: Lessons Learned (in 80's and in the Middle of 90's) by Lt.Col. Ing. Jaroslav Masničák. The original motivation for this article was the need to draw general conclusions from the armed conflicts in 1998's and 1990's. The author tries to work up available data from unclassified sources. He puts his stress on analysis of experiences connected with deployment of armed forces, combat vehicles, material and arms systems. He also takes into account political, military, geographical and historical aspects of individual conflicts.

 DEFENCE RESEARCH

We Complete Programme Goals of Military Research by Ing. Ladislav Klíma, CSc., and Col. Ing. Karel Eminger. The part of transformation processes within the ACR in 1994-96 is presented also in a form of certain consolidation of defence research. The military research is supported firstly by the evaluation of finished programmes, their implementation, secondly by the its evaluation by selected scientific teams and their staff members. Shortly, this article summarizes results gained, their effectiveness, force. It is based on closing reports and finished projects of defence research.

NATO Research and Technology Organization by Ing. Josef Janošec, CSc. Czech defence research and military science are closely connected with all NATO institutions. The Czech Republic, the membership of which is only a question of the near future, cooperates with the research and technology institutions, within the frame of PfP programme. Now we must also join the planning procedures, so that we could reach full membership in NATO in 2000-2001. The author underlines that this fact needs fulfilment of several partial measures having outstanding influence on defence research and development.

 OPINIONS, CONTROVERSY

About Security Policy of the Czech Republic (Response to an Article with the Same Title in VR 4/97) by Col. Ing. doc. Petr Němec, CSc. The overall situation is quite different that is stated in above mentioned paper. Governmental and army representatives rather hesitate now before lay down military priorities, as such things need a lot of financial resources. In the past, several projects had been realized, and after a year they had to be corrected, because our leaders lack economy insight, which is a handicap for specialists, who want to contribute to developing the ACR. Top management must respect real economical capacities of the Republic, especially as far as the Czech Air Force is concerned.

State Security System: Capacity for Action by Col. GSO Milan Kubeša, CSc. The author reacts to the article by Maj. Ing. Lubomír Spáčil, CSc. "The Security System of the CR and Crisis Management" (VR 1/98) which depicts actual, badly arranged crisis management (CM) in our country. Col. Kubeša agree with the conclusions of the author, because there are some incoherent relations among individual CM organs. Actually, there is very small cooperation, even at the lowest levels. The source of this disorder has its origins in the incoherence of top institutions mentioned above. The author proposes the only remedy to this problem, which is according to him, the real system approach.

The Role of Large Reconnaissance Units, G-2, and Operation Management by Doc. Ing. Oldřich Horák, CSc. This article reacts to negative experience with the role of reconnaissance commander and chief G-2 during staff exercises, ground forces. The core of this problem is the fact that owning to passage to new organizational structure similar to that of NATO, the functional duties were divided among staff sections, branches, departments, cells. This situation was brought about by wrongly understood methods and procedures used in NATO armies. The author tries to explain that under new circumstances we must solve problems in another way, so that we could coordinate activities of commanders and senior officers, especially in the field of military intelligence.

 Careful Adaptation? (Response to the Two Articles in VR 1/98) by Lt.Col. GSO Ing. Jiří Halaška. The author reviews the article by Professor Ing. Jaroslav Komárek (VR 1/98) "Leader Development in the Forces of NATO Nations and the Army of the Czech Republic". Generally he agrees with him, but adds some facts gained in the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr). He informs us about his experience from manoeuvres in Germany and underlines differences both in material, social and motivation spheres. He finds three-level preparation of German officers more suitable, in contrast to that of the Czech Army. In the second part of his article he reacts to Col. Milan Kubeša's "Various Ways of the Deployment of the Army of the Czech Republic" (ib.). He claims that the proper sense of existing Land Defence Command does not fit with the needs of war or forthcoming crises.