Military of the Czech Republic
| Military of the Czech Republic Armáda České republiky |
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  The coat of arms and roundel |
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| Founded | c.1918 |
| Current form | 1993 |
| Service branches | land forces, Czech Air Force |
| Leadership | |
| Commander-in-Chief | President of the Republic Václav Klaus |
| Chief of staff | Chief of the General Staff: Lieutenant General Vlastimil Picek |
| Manpower | |
| Military age | 18 years of age |
| Available for military service |
2,414,728, age 15–49 (2005 est.) |
| Fit for military service |
1,996,631, age 15–49 (2005 est.) |
| Reaching military age annually |
66,583 (2005 est.) |
| Active personnel | 25,177 military and 13,628 civil personnel[1] |
| Expenditures | |
| Budget | $ 2,84 billion (2008) |
| Percent of GDP | 1.26% (2008)[2] |
| Industry | |
| Foreign suppliers | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United States |
The Army of the Czech Republic (Czech: Armáda České republiky) comprise the land forces, the Czech Air Force and support units. From the late 1940s to 1989, the extensive Czechoslovak Armed Forces (about 200,000) formed one of the pillars of the Warsaw Pact military alliance. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic is completing a major reorganisation and reduction of the armed forces, which intensified after the Czech Republic joined NATO on March 12, 1999.
Contents |
History
The Czechoslovak Armed Forces were originally formed after 1918. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Czechoslovak units and formations served with the French Army, the Royal Air Force, the British Army (the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade), and the Red Army (I Corps). Four Czech and Slovak-manned RAF squadrons were transferred to Czechoslovak control in late 1945. During the Cold War the Army was known as the Czechoslovak People's Army.[3] "Of the approximately 201,000 personnel on active duty in the CSLA in 1987, about 145,000, or about 72 percent, served in the ground forces (commonly referred to as the army). About 100,000 of these were conscripts."[4] There were two military districts, Western and Eastern. A 1989 listing of forces shows two Czech armies in the west, the 1st at Pribram with one tank division and three motor rifle divisions, the 4th at Pisek with two tank divisions and two motor rifle divisions. In the Eastern Military District, there were two tank divisions, the 13th and 14th, with a supervisory headquarters at Trencin in the east of the country.[5]
The Army of the Czech Republic was formed after the Czechoslovak Armed Forces split after the 1 January 1993 dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Czech forces stood at 90,000 in 1993. They were reduced to around 65,000 in eleven combat brigades and the Air Force in 1997, to 63,601 in 1999,[6] and to 35,000 in 2005. At the same time, the forces were modernized and reoriented towards a defensive posture. In 2004 the army transformed itself into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished. The Army maintains an Active Reserve.
The Czech Republic is a member of the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Since 1990, the ACR and the Czech Armed Forces have contributed to numerous peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, including IFOR, SFOR, and EUFOR Althea in Bosnia, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Albania, Turkey, Pakistan and with the Coalition forces in Iraq.
Current deployments (as of 2010):
- Kosovo: NATO Operation "Joint Enterprise" (KFOR) - 450 soldiers
- Afghanistan: NATO Operation (ISAF) - 458 soldiers, 12 civilian experts and 3 Mi-171S helicopters in Faizabad, Logar and Paktika provinces.
- Somalia: EU Operation Atalanta (NAVFOR) - 3 soldiers
- DR Congo: UN peacekeeping mission (MONUC) - 3 military observers
- Afghanistan: UN peacekeeping mission (UNAMA) - 1 military observer
- Kosovo: UN peacekeeping mission (UNMIK) - 1 military observer
In February 2010 Czech media started to speculate about possible corruption around the purchase of Pandur II vehicles for the Czech Army.[7]
Structure
Structure of the Czech Armed Forces consists of three parts:
- General Staff of Czech Armed Forces (Praha)
Joint Forces (Olomouc)
Support and Training Forces (Stará Boleslav)
Equipment
Equipment numbers as of July 1, 2008:[8]
Main battle tanks:
- 179x T-72 MBT (30x T-72M4CZ, rest in reserve)
IFV:
- 174x BVP-2 Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle
- 76x BPzV-1 Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle
- 107x Pandur II on order
Artillery:
- 164x DANA 152mm Self-propelled Howitzer
- 60x RM-70 122mm Multiple Rocket Launcher
- 85x M1982 PRAM-L 120mm towed mortar
- 8x SPM-85 PRAM-S 120mm self-propelled mortar
- 3x ARTHUR Artillery Tracking Radar
Non armoured vehicles:
- 114x Land Rover Defender 110 TDi - light off road vehicle
- 79x Land Rover Defender 130 Kajman
- 588x Tatra T 810 - (military trucks)
- 1000+x Tatra T815 (4x4, 6x6, 8x8 versions) military heavy trucks[9]
- 19x Dingo 2 armored military truck
- 19x Iveco LMV armored light off road vehicle + 90 on order
Air-defence systems:
- 2K12 Kub-M2 (SA-6 GAINFUL)
- 9K35 Strela-10M (SA-13 GOPHER)
- 16x RBS 70[9]
Combat aircraft and helicopters:
- 14x JAS 39 Gripen fighters
- 28x Aero L 159 ALCA light attack aircraft
- 29x Mil Mi-35 attack helicopters
Support/transport aircraft and helicopters:
- 10x PZL W-3 Sokół utility helicopters
- 16x Mil Mi-17 transport helicopters
- 16x Mil Mi-171S transport helicopters
- 4x EADS CASA C-295M transport aircraft
- 4x Antonov An-26 Curl transport aircraft
- 10x Let L-410 Turbolet light transport and photographic mapping
- Sojka III unmanned aerial vehicle
Training aircraft and helicopters:
- 10x Aero L-39 Albatros jet trainer
- 8x Zlin Z 142CAF basic trainer
- 5x Mil Mi-2 Hoplite trainer helicopters
- 4x Eurostar EV97 basic trainer
VIP transport
- 2x Airbus 319CJW
- 2x Yakovlev Yak-40 Codling
- 1x Bombardier Challenger 600
Small arms & hand weapons:
- CZ 805 Bren A1 standard service rifle
- Sa vz. 58 standard service rifle
- Vz. 52 rifle is used as ceremonial weapon by Prague Castle Guard.
- Škorpion vz. 61 submachine gun
- PDW Škorpion EVO III submachine gun
- Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun
- Uk vz. 59 General purpose machine gun
- Dragunov Sniper Rifle (SVD)
- CZ 700 sniper rifle
- CZ 75 pistol
- CZ 97B pistol
- CZ 100 pistol
- RPG-7V anti-tank grenade launcher
- RPG-75 anti-tank weapon
- Carl Gustav M3 recoilless rifle
- FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile launcher
Uniforms
Different types of Czech Army uniforms:
.jpg) Standard Czech camouflage uniform and vz. 58 standard service rifle |
 Military band Olomouc |
 Military band Olomouc |
 Military band Olomouc |
Commanding officers
- Chief of the General Staff: Lieutenant General Vlastimil Picek
- Chief of the General Staff Office: Colonel Milan Šeiner
- First Deputy Chief of the General Staff: Lieutenant General Jaroslav Kolkus
- Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the ACR-Chief of Staff: Lieutenant General František Hrabal
- Deputy Chief of the General Staff - Director of JOC (Operations Commander): Major General Josef Prokš
- Director of Division for Development of Forces Branches - Operations Division: Brigadier General Josef Bečvář
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- Immediately Subordinated Offices:
- Military Regional Office, Boletice
- Military Regional Office, Brdy
- Military Regional Office, Březina
- Military Regional Office, Hradiště
- Military Regional Office, Libavá
- Support Policy Division: Director Major General Pavel Jevula
- Immediately Subordinated Institutions:
- Central Military Hospital, Prague
- Military Hospital, Brno
- Military Hospital, Olomouc
- Institute of Aviation Medicine, Prague
- Communication and Information Systems Division:Director - Chief of the Signal Corps of ACR: Colonel Jan Kaše
- Immediately Subordinated Institutions:
- 6th Communication Centre
- Research and Communication Centre 080
- Information Technology Development Agency
- Force Planning Division: Acting Director Colonel František Mičánek
- Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare Department: Director Colonel Miroslav Žižka
- Immediately Subordinated Office:
- Military Geography and Hydrometeorology Office
- Military Aviation Authority: Director Colonel Josef Otta
References
- ↑ http://www.army.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=5770
- ↑ http://www.army.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=5760
- ↑ For the Czechoslovak Army during the Cold War, see Gordon L. Rottman, Warsaw Pact Ground Forces, Osprey Publishing, 1987
- ↑ Library of Congress Country Study: Czechoslovakia, Ground Forces, 1987
- ↑ Orbat.com, Warsaw Pact Order of Battle 1989, accessed 2 June 2010
- ↑ "Starting points for professionalization of the armed forces" (in Czech). 2000. http://www.defenceandstrategy.eu/filemanager/files/file.php?file=6406. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
- ↑ http://zpravy.idnes.cz/secret-pandur-agreement-bring-the-politicians-we-ll-pay-pio-/prilohy.asp?c=A100221_142541_domaci_abr
- ↑ www.army.cz about equipment size
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 http://www.army.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=11072
External links
- (English) Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic
- (Czech) Information Center about NATO
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