The 5th armaments conference was held at the Army Museum in Žižkov, the aim of which is to enable meetings and professional debates of representatives of the Czech defense and security industry and representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Army, and the security community. The fifth annual conference, subtitled “Armaments in Times of Crises,” was attended by Minister Jana Černochová, Chief of the General Staff Karel Řehka, and representatives of the Czech defense industry. It focused on the prediction of defense spending and current and future modernization projects of the Czech Army.
According to the presented prediction, Czech defense spending is expected to be around 160 billion crowns per year in the coming years. However, Minister Černochová pointed out that the long-term underfunded defense carries a huge internal debt from the past. The law on defense financing of at least 2 percent of GDP is supposed to help pay it off, but that will not be enough. “Two percent will really be a floor, not a ceiling. Countries closer to Russia are trying to get to four to five percent of GDP on defense,” she stated.
The Russian aggression in Ukraine confirmed how important the domestic defense industry is. The minister appealed to companies to invest current profits and revenues back into increasing their capacities and capabilities, including new technologies. Černochová admitted that many Czech companies are capable of supplying the army with top-notch products, but in many cases acquisitions are proceeding very slowly.
Gen. Řehka added that the army is preparing for fundamental changes within NATO. The alliance has never planned its defense in such detail since the Cold War as it does now, and next year, before the NATO summit, the allies will approve new goals for the defense of individual countries. “And we already know that revolutionary changes await us,” he said.
Reportáž z konference si můžete přečíst na serveru natoaktual.cz nebo na webu Ministerstva obrany ČR.
You can read the report from the conference in Czech on the natoaktual.cz server or the Ministry of Defense website.
The event is organized by the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic, Jagello 2000 and the Military History Institute, co-organizers are the Association of the Defense and Security Industry of the Czech Republic and the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic.