Ex Slovak Shield enters its next phase

Slovakia's most important military exercise of the year is entering its next phase. Troops assembled at the Training Centre Lešť for an opening ceremony marking another iteration of this year's Ex Slovak Shield, designed as a command post exercise for planning and conducting military operations in defence of the Slovak Republic. As part of this phase, mechanised battalion units will conduct a live fire exercise, with the participation of multinational forces.

In the run-up to the exercise, nearly all units and facilities of the SVK Armed Forces tested their preparedness to place their personnel on higher readiness, to take force protection measures, to supplement personnel and to replenish material. As part of the exercise scenario, some units, especially Army and SOF units have moved to designated training areas where they are practising tactical tasks. Most importantly, the coming days will see concerted efforts to test the personnel of a mechanised brigade and its subordinate units, including our allies from the United States of America, Czechia, Poland and Hungary.

Speaking about the ongoing exercise, SVK Chief of Defence Gen Daniel Zmeko said: “I am satisfied with the course of the exercise so far. Despite the pause in training due to the pandemic, armed forces have maintained a high level of professionalism in the planning processes and in operating weapon systems. Exercises bring a lot of lessons learned. These lead to systemic changes in the fields of combat and mobilisation readiness with the aim of increasing it as an answer to the still complicated security situation in our area of interest.”

The exercise's final phase will be focused on verification assignments and the after-action results of the exercising troops will be announced in the presence of top command leaders and government representatives. After the conclusion of the exercise, military convoys will move across Slovakia. For this reason, relevant measures will be taken to minimise disruptions to local traffic during these movements.