KEEPING ABREAST OF TIME FOR FUTURE CHALLENGES

This year, the transformation of the Slovenian Armed Forces continues. Last year, the guidance on reduction of defence budget continued from the previous years. This required a thorough reflection, preparation of measures and constant upgrades in the defence system functioning. In the overall effort to apply cuts to defence budgets, NATO member states searched for various solutions and each of them tackled this challenge in a slightly different way. The term transformation is thus a very topical term. We have heard and read a lot about it. However, in the last year, Smart Defence was certainly the one most related to the reduction in defence budgets. And what is the essence of Smart Defence? It is no longer about how to achieve more with less, but how to use the given resources to maximise the efficiency. This also requires changes in thinking, approaches, and mainly solutions. NATO member states considered different options to achieve best results in the current situation. The synergy of effects is supposed to be the right option for everything, whereby all of the engaged entities should contribute to the best of their abilities and in a way to best build an effective whole. In the Slovenian Armed Forces, we have considered the given circumstances, studied our possibilities and with a new year we started a journey down the path of optimal functioning and changes. This process was called transformation of the Slovenian Armed Forces. It is just that topical issues from the domestic and inter- national security environment are also discussed in our contributions. Some of the authors thus present their works and findings developed recently during the transfor- mation process. In this issue, Vinko Vegič is publishing his article »NATO crisis interventions – lessons learned and challenges of the operation in Libya”. He describes what such a vast NATO operation means and what it brings in practice, i.e. in a situation where different doctrines and theoretic debates should provide appropriate solutions. Branimir Furlan wrote the article »Professional armed forces without professional autonomy – is this possible?” where he shares a view on the developmental phases of the professionalization of the armed forces and military profession as the final goal bringing to foreground the question of competence and responsibility of the military for its own professional development. Valter Bosotina and Branko Lavtar discuss “The renovation of uniform-supply system in the Slovenian Armed Forces”. In their article, they present the solutions for the improvement of the process used so far, which is necessary for the functioning of the Slovenian Armed Forces. The process is, at the same time, affected by various circumstances and influences, which require changes. In his article “New approach to prediction and decision-making in the targeting process” Jurij Jurtela presents a subject which deals with fire support systems. He acquaints readers with the dilemmas that occur during individual military operations and require decisions about a great variety of matters. He provides suggestions on how to tackle those dilemmas and what tools to use for the best effect and superiority. Erik Kopač and Janja Vuga from the Faculty of Social Sciences write about Individual’s choice to seek employment in the Slovenian Armed Forces contract reserve. They used socio-psychological approach to study, which factors are the most decisive for this type of employment, and established that economic stimula- tion plays an important role in this, while the essence lies in the personal attitude of each individual. More details are available in the article. Canadian anthropologist Donna Winslow studied modern defence forces. She authored a number of articles and reached many interesting findings. Two of the most famous include the findings about a scandal in Somalia and about the war in Chechnya. Maja Garb, Jelena Juvan and Uroš Svete honoured her memory with their article “From the questions of military culture to the analysis of anthropologi- sts’ role in the armed forces – the work of Donna Winslow”.

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