The Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic were divided from the Czechoslovak army after dissolution of Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1993. Slovakia joined NATO on 29 March 2004.[5] From 2006 the army transformed into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished.[6][7][8] Slovak armed forces numbered 18,531 uniformed personnel and 4,208 civilians in 2021.[9]
Structure of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic 2016 (click to enlarge)
The Slovak Air Force, officially the Air Force of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic, has been defending Slovak airspace since 1939. Slovak Air Force currently comprises one wing of fighters and one wing of utility helicopters, and one SAM brigade. It operates 20 pieces aircraft, as well as 10 helicopters from 3 air bases: Malacky Air Base, Sliač Air Base, Prešov Air Base. The Air Force is currently part of the NATO Integrated Air and Missiles Defense System – NATINADS.
In the future will be added Cyber Defence Unit and SOF Training base.
Missions
Slovakia has 169 military personnel deployed in Cyprus for UNFICYPUnited Nations led peace support operations.[12][13] Slovakia committed to increase the number of its troops in Afghanistan to around 45 men by the end of 2016.[14] Slovakia has 41 troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina for EUFOR Althea.[15] Slovak troops were withdrawn from Kosovo because the Slovak Armed Forces set its priority to focus mainly on an Afghanistan NATO led mission.[16][17] Since the independence of Slovakia in 1993, there have been 60 uniformed personnel deaths in the line of service to the United Nations and NATO (as of April 30, 2018).[18][19][20]
Zuzana Čaputová
United States[4]
Israel
Italy
Germany
Czech Republic
Japan
Poland
Russia
