Author: major Miroslava Štenclová, army.cz|Caption: Dukla Spirit and Joint Fires 2018
About 500 soldiers of the 72nd Mechanized Battalion (7th Mechanized Brigade) started the Dukla Spirit 2018 and Joint Fires 2018, two-week exercises in the Military Region Hradiště on Monday, 20th August. They are completed with specialists of the 153rd Engineer Battalion (15th Engineer Regiment), the 132nd Artillery Battalion (13th Artillery Regiment) and the 312th Battalion of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Protection (31st CBRN Protection Regiment).
Commander of the Land Forces of the Czech Army, Brigadier General Josef Kopecký visited the troops on Thursday: „Today I have verified the combat readiness of the troops. Documentation, equipment and soldiers are formally and practically ready to conduct company combat shooting.“
See also: Czech Army’s Modernization Projects: Self-Propelled Mortars
Brigadier General Josef Kopecký commanded the 7th Mechanized Brigade from 2011 to 2015. In the past he acted also as commander of the 1st Tank Battalion, 15th Armour Regiment (1990-1991), Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the 1st Tank Battalion, 33rd Armoured Regiment (1992-1994), Deputy Commander of the 74th Mechanised Battalion (1995-2000) and of the 21st Mechanised Battalion (2002-2004).
The general aim of the exercise is to verify the coordination between the troops based on elementary all-arms and specialized capabilities during a company tactical drill with company combat shooting. During the exercise the shootings are conducted from static weapons and firearms of a mechanized company. The battalion’s mortar company is subordinated to the artillery battalion and will train battery fire and fire control, within the parallel artillery exercise Joint Fires 2018.
There is more than 130 vehicles used during the exercise, including 37 BVP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicles. These will soon be replaced within a large acquisition project: Czech Army’s Modernization Projects: the IFVs.
See also: New Infantry Fighting Vehicles for the Czech Army
The exercise is held under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Miroslav Vybíhal, commander of the 72nd Mechanized Battalion from Přáslavice.
Source: army.cz