GROUND PEPPER 2014: Slovak tanks again in action
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- Date: 19.10.2014
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Thanks to the international military exercise Ground Pepper 2014, the SVK tanks operate in the field again. Though during the previous years a primary focus was on conservation of the tanks rather than on their deployment in training areas, thanks to the military exercise, that has not been in Slovakia for a long time, the tanks proved to be an integral part of the SVK Armed Forces.
The intention of the previous leadership of the SVK MOD was to have the tanks decommissioned and subsequently make them disappear from the inventory. The current Defence Minister Martin Glváč is of a different opinion: “If you have no alternative for your only firepower, it is a real hazard with the state security to cause it to be nullified. The situation in Ukraine stands for my point. The global security situation is constantly changing. I do not want to imagine a situation when a citizen asked me whether the security of our territory was guaranteed, and I would have to answer ‘NO’, for there was absolutely no firepower. Our predecessors did not think of it at all.”
Martin Glváč emphasized that phasing out capabilities is the easiest solution to balance a poor financial situation of the Department. “We, unlike our predecessors, do not want to follow this path. Once you abolish any capability, the same would be extremely difficult to substitute in the future, and in some cases it may even be impossible.”
At the Lešť Training Area, co-operating with the Slovak-Polish mechanized units, a Slovak tank platoon put up a flawless defence against a simulated attack of a NATO member state. By their combat action, they managed to push the adversary out of the occupied territory.
“Exactly this kind of test of the Armed Forces’ performance in a modern, high-intensity conflict shows the need to retain the tank capability. Nowadays, the tank firepower is irreplaceable,” briefed the Chief of the General Staff, Lt Gen Milan Maxim.
The intention of the previous leadership of the SVK MOD was to have the tanks decommissioned and subsequently make them disappear from the inventory. The current Defence Minister Martin Glváč is of a different opinion: “If you have no alternative for your only firepower, it is a real hazard with the state security to cause it to be nullified. The situation in Ukraine stands for my point. The global security situation is constantly changing. I do not want to imagine a situation when a citizen asked me whether the security of our territory was guaranteed, and I would have to answer ‘NO’, for there was absolutely no firepower. Our predecessors did not think of it at all.”
Martin Glváč emphasized that phasing out capabilities is the easiest solution to balance a poor financial situation of the Department. “We, unlike our predecessors, do not want to follow this path. Once you abolish any capability, the same would be extremely difficult to substitute in the future, and in some cases it may even be impossible.”
At the Lešť Training Area, co-operating with the Slovak-Polish mechanized units, a Slovak tank platoon put up a flawless defence against a simulated attack of a NATO member state. By their combat action, they managed to push the adversary out of the occupied territory.
“Exactly this kind of test of the Armed Forces’ performance in a modern, high-intensity conflict shows the need to retain the tank capability. Nowadays, the tank firepower is irreplaceable,” briefed the Chief of the General Staff, Lt Gen Milan Maxim.
