MILITARY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

The 'Czech Armed Forces' (Czech: ''Armáda České republiky'') consists of Land and Air Forces and of specialized support units. After joining NATO in March 12, 1999, the Czech Republic is completing a major overhaul of the extensive Czechoslovak armed forces which until 1989 formed one of the pillars of the Warsaw Pact military alliance. Czech forces have been gradually downsized from 200,000 to 35,000 and at the same time modernized and reoriented toward defensive posture. In 2004 the army transformed into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was ended.

Contents

Structure of the Czech Armed Forces

Commanding officers

Equipment

Recent operations

Uniforms

External links

Structure of the Czech Armed Forces

Structure of the Czech Armed Forces consis of three parts:

★ General Staff of Czech Armed Forces (Praha)

★ Joint Forces (Olomouc)

★ Support and Training Forces (Stará Boleslav)

Commanding officers

★ Highest Commander of the Armed Forces: President of the Republic Václav Klaus

★ 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:

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★ Military Regional Office, Boletice

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★ Military Regional Office, Brdy

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★ Military Regional Office, Březina

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★ Military Regional Office, Hradiště

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★ Military Regional Office, Libavá

★ Support Policy Division: Director Major General Pavel Jevula

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★ Immediately Subordinated Institutions:

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★ Central Military Hospital, Prague

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★ Military Hospital, Brno

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★ Military Hospital, Olomouc

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★ Institute of Aviation Medicine, Prague

★ Communication and Information Systems Division:Director - Chief of the Signal Corps of ACR: Colonel Jan Kaše

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★ Immediately Subordinated Institutions:

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★ 6th Communication Centre

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★ Research and Communication Centre 080

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★ Information Technology Development Agency

★ Force Planning Division: Acting Director Colonel František Mičánek

★ Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare Department: Director Colonel Miroslav Žižka

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★ Immediately Subordinated Office:

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★ Military Geography and Hydrometeorology Office

★ Military Aviation Authority: Director Colonel Josef Otta

Equipment

Equipment size at January 1 2007:^[1]

★ Main battle tanks:

★ 181x T-72 MBT (30 being upgraded to T72M4CZ , 478 T72 in reserve)
IFV:

★ 257x BMP-1 IFV(most in reserve - getting replaced by Pandur 8X8 APC and APC's)

★ 76x BPzV-1

★ 174x BMP-2 IFV

★ APC:

★ 29x OT-90 (scraped - getting replaced by Pandur 8X8 APC)

★ 43x OT-64 (scraped)

★ Aritillery:

★ 168x DANA 152mm SPH

★ 84x M 1982 towed mortar 120 mm

★ 8x Self propelled mortar 120 mm

★ 60x RM-70 122 mm MLRS

★ 3x ARTHUR Artillery Hunting Radar

★ Non armoured vehicles:

★ UAZ-469 - light off road vehicle

★ Land Rover Defender 110 - light off road vehicle

★ PRAGA V3S military trucks (will be scraped and replaced by new Tatra 810)

★ Tatra T815 (4x4, 6x6, 8x8 versions) military heavy trucks

★ ZIL 131

★ Air defence missiles:

★ 2K12 KubM2(SA-6 GAINFUL)

★ 9K35 Strela-10M(SA-13 GOPHER)

★ RBS 70

★ Combat aircraft and helicopters:

★ 14x JAS 39 Gripenfighter

★ 71x Aero L-159 Alca light attack aircraft(46 in reserve)

★ 38x Mil Mi-24V attack helicopters

★ Support) (transport aircraft and helicopters:

★ 11x PZL W-3 Sokół - utility helicopters

★ 40x Mil Mi-8 and Mil Mi-17 - transport helicopters

★ 4x Antonov An-26 - transport aircraft

★ 2x Tupolev Tu-154M - transport aircraft (will be scraped during 2OO7 and replacement by A319)
2x Yakovlev Yak-40 VIP transport

★ 2x Airbus 319CJW - Airbus A320 family transport (1 active, 1 ordered)

★ 1x Bombardier Challenger 600 - VIP transport

★ 1x Let L-410 Turbolet - transport

★ Training aircraft and helicopters:

★ 26x Aero L-39 Albatros (jet trainer)

★ 2Ox Zlin Z 142CAF (basic trainer)

★ 5x Mil Mi-2 (trainer helicopters)

Recent operations

The Czech Republic is a member of the UN and the OSCE and has contributed to numerous peacekeeping operations, including IFOR/SFOR in Bosnia, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq.
Current deployments (as of 2005):

★ Kosovo: NATO Operation "Joint Enterprise" (KFOR) - 500 soldiers

★ Iraq: Coalition Operation of Multinational Forces - 96 soldiers

★ Bosnia and Herzegovina: European Union Operation (ALTHEA) - 65 soldiers

★ Afghanistan: NATO Operation (ISAF) - 17 soldiers in Kabul and 83 soldiers in Faizabad
Infantry weapons include:
Sa 58 assault rifle,
Universal machine gun vz. 59,
Sa vz 61 (Škorpion) machine pistol,
Dragunov Sniper Rifle (SVD),
CZ 700 sniper rifle,
CZ 75 pistol,
CZ 97B pistol,
CZ 100 pistol,
RPG-7V anti-tank grenade launcher,
FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank guided missile,Carl Gustav recoilless rifle
and Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun

Uniforms

Military band Olomouc in different types of uniforms:

External links

★ Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic

★ Information Center about NATO

★ Czech Air Force-unofficial site

★ A Czech army commercial on Google Video
1. |www.army.cz about equipment size