Commander of the Allied Air Command (AIRCOM) General James B. Hecker visited the Czech Republic on April 29-30th. The Czech Air Force Commander Major General Petr Čepelka accompanied him during his visit of the 21st Tactical Air Force Base Čáslav on Monday. On Tuesday, General Hecker had a meeting with the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces Lieutenant General Karel Řehka to discuss modernisation projects, particularly the acquisition of the 5th generation fighter F-35, the Czech Armed Forces’ engagement in the collective defence, and the strengthening of air defence posture.
At its last year’s Summit in Vilnius, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation agreed on new tasks in the field of the collective defence which, according to General Řehka, the Czech Armed Forces take very seriously. He says the tasking links to the assignments arising from the new national Security Strategy and Defence Strategy. General Řehka and General Hecker discussed the use of airpower in potential conflicts but also the integrated air defence and, of course, the lessons learnt from the war in Ukraine. The analyses of the situation in Ukraine as well as the recent Iranian attack on Israel resounded in the discussions during both days. “Airpower and air defence will obviously play a very important role in any potential armed conflict in the future,” General Řehka summed up. He pointed out that the Czech Republic moves tangibly ahead in this field, including by procuring the SPYDER system, 3D radars, passive surveillance systems, and, as a matter of course, the F-35 fighters. General Hecker acknowledged this year’s increase of the Czech Republic’s defence expenditure to 2% GDP and underscored the recently approved package of American assistance for military and economic aid to Ukraine and countries in the region valued at US$ 61 billion.
According to General Hecker, the biggest surprise of the war in Ukraine for many was the fact that the war did not end in 14 days due to Russian’s failure to achieve air superiority. This was accomplished by the Ukrainian integrated air and missile defence system. After shooting down more than a hundred Russian planes, Russia changed its tactics and started to use long-range missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and recently also ballistic missiles from North Korea. “This shows what kind of war is that without air superiority. It’s almost like the trench warfare during World War II,” GEN Hecker said. “This proves how important for NATO is the ability to achieve air superiority at the outset.” Over the past decades, the NATO airpower has provided air support in conditions in which it had outright air superiority. “In the future, we might need to win it first,” General Hecker remarked and added that the key importance in this endeavour will rest in the F-35 aircraft. By the end of this decade, NATO nations will operate as many as six hundred F-35s. General Hecker opined the aircraft with the support of other components should overcome the Russian air defence. That is why it is essential to strengthen the Alliance’s capabilities in multi-domain operations. Air, land, space, and cyber domains are interdependent and the joint concurrent operation in all domains synergises much better outcomes. This will also require appropriately demanding training and a network of bases able to join the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) in which the air power is moved during the opponent’s decision-making cycle. Therefore, mutual interoperability is vital in this process. According to General Hecker, the Čáslav Air Force Base, which is being prepared for the F-35 aircraft, is very promising.
Lastly, General Hecker and General Řehka emphasised the importance to continue the support of Ukraine. Lieutenant General Řehka pointed out that while NATO supports Ukraine with supplies of necessary weapon systems, Ukraine itself is concurrently developing own systems. In some segments of air defence, such as the use of mobile firing units or acoustic sensors, it is NATO which learns from Ukraine.
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