Minister Gajdoš meets Indiana National Guard Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Courtney P. Carr

SVK Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš today met the Adjutant General of the Indiana National Guard, Maj. Gen. Courtney P. Carr, at MOD Main Building. Topics of discussion included bilateral defence engagement, especially the cooperation between the SVK Armed Forces and the Indiana National Guard. The meeting took place as part of Maj. Gen. Carr’s visit to Slovakia, to attend the Change of Command ceremony for the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic (SVK Chief of Defence), as General Maxim retires at the end of his tenure as CHOD on 4 May.

 
Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš said:“The cooperation with the Indiana National Guard is one of the most important for the SVK Armed Forces to gain further experience.” Head of the MOD updated Maj. Gen. Carr on the SVK contribution to Iraq, where SVK soldiers are training Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) personnel in the fields of mechanical demining and maintenance &repairs of Soviet-era military equipment, with the consent of the Republic of Iraq as part of NATO’s training and capability building in Iraq (NTCB-I), and on the SVK Government-approved eFP deployment of 152 soldiers to Latvia this year. The Minister also confirmed the continuity of our engagement in NATOʼs Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.
 
Minister Gajdoš reminded that two C-27J Spartan transport aircraft and two UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters are already in service with the SVK Air Force, and more helicopters are due to come in the coming months. At the same time, he praised the participation of Indiana Guardmembers in Ex Toxic Valley and Ex Slovak Shield 2017, as well as the scheduled deployment of Indiana Guardsmen on Ex Slovak Shield 2018. Both partners were in agreement that cyber defence is a potential area of cooperation in the future.