Cabinet approves Ministry of Defence's Long-Term Defence Development Plan with Outlook to 2035

Today (Wednesday 8 June 2022), the Cabinet has approved the Ministry of Defence-proposed Long-Term Defence Development Plan with an Outlook to 2035. This strategic document sets out the goals of and procedures for generating, sustaining and developing the state's defence capacities and capabilities into the future. The document must still be presented to Parliament for vote.

Speaking after the Cabinet meeting today, Minister Naď said: “At todayʼs meeting, the Cabinet reaffirmed the governmentʼs manifesto commitment to lead active dialogue on the goals of and needs for the provision of the stateʼs defences. I am immensely pleased that we have found consensus on this priority issue, one that is directed towards the provision of our Defence capability, which, following Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine, has become a far more urgent task than it may have appeared just a few months ago.”

According to the head of the MOD, the adoption of the new long-term plan is one of the basic premises for a well-functioning and evolving armed forces. The previous version of the document, titled “Long-Term Defence Development Plan with Emphasis on Building and Developing the Slovak Armed Forces” of 2017, as he reminds us, was not approved by Parliament. In addition, there was a need to update it to factor in the realities of Slovakia's new strategic documents – the SVK Defence Strategy and the SVK Security Strategy. “With its approval of the Long-Term Defence Development Plan, Slovakia is joining other countries that are willing and capable of perceiving their needs in the field of defence, even beyond a single electoral period,” Minister Naď added.

Among the main goals of the Long-Term Defence Development Plan are building a heavy mechanised brigade; increasing the number and improving the quality of service personnel in the Slovak Armed Forces; reorganising the Slovak Air Force to form units in accordance with the requirements for new platforms and systems; standing up a new cyber operations unit; and completing the stand-up of Joint Operations Headquarters.