J. Naď: Past year confirms exceptional importance of SVK Armed Forces in country's crisis management, years to come will see their intense development
- Author: SVK MOD
- Photo: SVK MOD - Jakub Neubauer
- Date: 22.03.2021
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A year passed yesterday exactly to the day the present leadership took over the Ministery of Defence on 21 March 2020. Looking back, senior MOD leaders assess progress over this period which they view as a daunting challenge, considering the ongoing pandemic and the transparency and openness issues in Defence. In the coming period, they want to continue to drive forward the agenda for real, transparent and intense development of the Slovak Armed Forces and to honour Slovakia's foreign policy and defence commitments.
Acknowledging the Slovak military's work as part of domestic crisis management, Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď said: “The entire year 2020 was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, not excluding the MOD. Nevertheless, I am immensely proud of the fantastic work done by our entire Defence and particularly by our Armed Forces that proved to be a truly functional and crucial element of crisis management in our country.” He added that the SVK MOD remains committed to providing assistance in battling COVID-19 by deploying thousands of military personnel to hospitals, tracing contacts of those who test positive, testing and vaccinating people, and delivering security day in, day out.
The Armed Forces need supportive Service conditions in order to function effectively. This, too, was one of the challenging areas of interest for the new MOD leadership who had inherited Defence infrastructure often in a poor state of repair, inadequate stocks of military clothing, and cases of misconduct in modernisation projects. “Soldiers can rest assured that we care about them very much and that we are creating a supportive environment for them so that they can perform their duties at 100% – we will provide them with adequate support and clothing. Compared to the past, we have made an enormous leap forward in these areas – we have invested nearly €100m in infrastructure and another €17.8m in military clothing, and we plan to spend a similar amount of funds this year as well. Of course, we are also building new infrastructure, because our Armed Forces need to grow,” said Minister Naď.
On the subject of Armed Forces modernisation, the Defence Minister praised the massive efforts underway to take modernisation projects forward, with transparency, openness and cost effectiveness as key priorities. The head of the MOD elaborated: “On the promotion of open communications, the declassification of several contracts, and the halt and review of non-transparent purchases by the MOD, we can say we have significantly shifted ahead too. Still this week we plan to sign an agreement on delivery of 3D radar systems, whereas new radars for military air bases, which are currently undergoing extensive refurbishment, are already in the process [of acquisition]. Alongside this, we are continuing to work on the projects that make sense – for example, the armoured fighting vehicles, whether it be wheeled or tracked. We are going to enormous efforts to re-equip service personnel with standard issue weapons and to purchase new engineering equipment, vehicles and coaches.”
Other successes include the approval of the new SVK Defence Strategy, which sets a clear course for SVK foreign and security policy, and the actual delivery of international commitments in the form of higher troop levels on international missions and operations and increased defence spend. “For the first time in history, we have reached the 2 per cent GDP defence spending goal, which enables us to bring higher quality capabilities to our Armed Forces and to reassure our Allies that Slovakia is a stable and responsible partner in the field of security and defence,” said Minister Naď.
As Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer confirmed, the past year has been challenging for the MOD. “Despite this, I think that the list of our achievements clearly points to the fact that it has been a year of efficiency. I believe we are going to build on the ongoing results and successes in the subsequent period,” he said.
Reflecting on the balance sheet of achievements over the past year, Chief of Defence Gen Daniel Zmeko thanked the Service personnel for a remarkable job, the military families for their support, and the public for their trust and favour. “At the same time, I would like to thank the MOD leadership for fostering a very constructive atmosphere conductive to meeting the goals of the SVK Armed Forces. I want to emphasise that all requirements of the SVK Armed Forces have recently been respected to the full extent under available resources,” said Gen Zmeko.
Paradoxically, for the MOD, the past year has been a year of stabilisation. Namely, several areas have seen radical steps towards effecting changes to the inherited state of affairs, including filing 7 criminal complaints on the grounds of suspected criminal activity. The MOD leadership wishes to keep up the trend of encouraging transparency, openness and intense development across Defence into the future.
On the past year of SVK Defence under the present leadership, please view the PDF file attached herein.
Acknowledging the Slovak military's work as part of domestic crisis management, Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď said: “The entire year 2020 was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, not excluding the MOD. Nevertheless, I am immensely proud of the fantastic work done by our entire Defence and particularly by our Armed Forces that proved to be a truly functional and crucial element of crisis management in our country.” He added that the SVK MOD remains committed to providing assistance in battling COVID-19 by deploying thousands of military personnel to hospitals, tracing contacts of those who test positive, testing and vaccinating people, and delivering security day in, day out.
The Armed Forces need supportive Service conditions in order to function effectively. This, too, was one of the challenging areas of interest for the new MOD leadership who had inherited Defence infrastructure often in a poor state of repair, inadequate stocks of military clothing, and cases of misconduct in modernisation projects. “Soldiers can rest assured that we care about them very much and that we are creating a supportive environment for them so that they can perform their duties at 100% – we will provide them with adequate support and clothing. Compared to the past, we have made an enormous leap forward in these areas – we have invested nearly €100m in infrastructure and another €17.8m in military clothing, and we plan to spend a similar amount of funds this year as well. Of course, we are also building new infrastructure, because our Armed Forces need to grow,” said Minister Naď.
On the subject of Armed Forces modernisation, the Defence Minister praised the massive efforts underway to take modernisation projects forward, with transparency, openness and cost effectiveness as key priorities. The head of the MOD elaborated: “On the promotion of open communications, the declassification of several contracts, and the halt and review of non-transparent purchases by the MOD, we can say we have significantly shifted ahead too. Still this week we plan to sign an agreement on delivery of 3D radar systems, whereas new radars for military air bases, which are currently undergoing extensive refurbishment, are already in the process [of acquisition]. Alongside this, we are continuing to work on the projects that make sense – for example, the armoured fighting vehicles, whether it be wheeled or tracked. We are going to enormous efforts to re-equip service personnel with standard issue weapons and to purchase new engineering equipment, vehicles and coaches.”
Other successes include the approval of the new SVK Defence Strategy, which sets a clear course for SVK foreign and security policy, and the actual delivery of international commitments in the form of higher troop levels on international missions and operations and increased defence spend. “For the first time in history, we have reached the 2 per cent GDP defence spending goal, which enables us to bring higher quality capabilities to our Armed Forces and to reassure our Allies that Slovakia is a stable and responsible partner in the field of security and defence,” said Minister Naď.
As Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer confirmed, the past year has been challenging for the MOD. “Despite this, I think that the list of our achievements clearly points to the fact that it has been a year of efficiency. I believe we are going to build on the ongoing results and successes in the subsequent period,” he said.
Reflecting on the balance sheet of achievements over the past year, Chief of Defence Gen Daniel Zmeko thanked the Service personnel for a remarkable job, the military families for their support, and the public for their trust and favour. “At the same time, I would like to thank the MOD leadership for fostering a very constructive atmosphere conductive to meeting the goals of the SVK Armed Forces. I want to emphasise that all requirements of the SVK Armed Forces have recently been respected to the full extent under available resources,” said Gen Zmeko.
Paradoxically, for the MOD, the past year has been a year of stabilisation. Namely, several areas have seen radical steps towards effecting changes to the inherited state of affairs, including filing 7 criminal complaints on the grounds of suspected criminal activity. The MOD leadership wishes to keep up the trend of encouraging transparency, openness and intense development across Defence into the future.
On the past year of SVK Defence under the present leadership, please view the PDF file attached herein.
