BRATISLAVA/LIPTOVSKY MIKULAS, December 4, (WEBNOVINY) – The Slovak Army will operate in a “safe mode” next year. It cannot afford to fulfill some of its ambitions, for instance in the modernization area. The Army will carry out its tasks in extremely difficult conditions, as the tendency of a significant spending cuts in the defense sector continues. At a planning conference at which military experts defined the priorities of next year’s training year, the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic General Lubomir Bulik underscored that they Army will “unconditionally have to preserve at least its critical competencies, the loss of which may not be renewable in the future”. At the conference in Liptovsky Mikulas, 200 army experts on all management levels were looking for ways on how to secure the Armed Forces‘ competencies with the allocated funds next year.
It has been agreed upon at the conference that in the training year 2011, the Armed Forces would secure in full extent Slovakia’s share in operations and missions of the international crisis management, within the NATO Integrated Air Defense System (NATINADS) and tasks of the Air Search and Rescue Service. The Army will also try to preserve the minimum required competencies and capacities for immediate action in situations such as floods, fire, or industrial accidents, and other tasks.
SITA