Page:NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY 18; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; ARMED FORCES CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110009-4.pdf/12

 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110009-4

The Frontier Guard has reduced its strength from 30,000 to about 9,500 since 1965. Reductions were predicated on basic realignment and the deactivation of several border brigades formerly responsible for areas along the East German and Polish borders. These border responsibilities were turned over to Czechoslovak Customs Police.

5. Training (S)

Training in the armed forces is patterned generally on that of the Soviet Armed Forces. Nearly all recruits receive some form of preinduction training in various state-controlled paramilitary organizations known collectively as SVAZARM (Svaz pro Spolupraci s Armadon—Union for Cooperation with the Army). This preinduction training is especially important to men interested in the airborne units and the air force; it constitutes an almost mandatory requirement.

All military training is supervised by the military district headquarters under the direction of the General Staff at the federal Ministry of National Defense. Guidance in shaping the military training program is provided by the Soviet Military Mission, and the Czechoslovak training schedule is coordinated with the overall Warsaw Pact plan for combined training of the Eastern European Warsaw Pact forces.

Schools for officers, officer candidates, reservists, and specialists are maintained by the various branches. In addition to a number of specialized branch schools for officer candidates, instruction for field-grade officers of all services is provided by a command and staff college, the Zapotocky Military Academy in Brno. The main training facilities for the air force are located at the air academy in Kosice. In addition to training at these in-country facilities, selected officers from the ground and air forces are sent to high-level military schools in the Soviet Union.

Joint air-ground training exercises, in which ground units are provided tactical air support, are frequently conducted. Helicopters are employed in limited air assault roles and reconnaissance. Air defense exercises, aimed at perfecting the coordination of surface-to-air and conventional antiaircraft elements with fighter aircraft, continually test the effectiveness of the air defense system.

The armed forces have participated in major Warsaw Pact exercises, including the most recent exercise, "Shield," in 1972. Combined Czechoslovak air defense exercises provide practice in the operation of the integrated air defense system of the Warsaw Pact. Within 3 months after the 1968 invasion, the Czechoslovak armed forces were training on a large-unit scale after having been at a full operational and training stand down.

Czechoslovak participation in the training of foreign military students is apparent both at in-country facilities and abroad. Students from Afro-Asian countries as well as from Cuba have been reported to be training at Czechoslovak ground and air forces installations. Civilian technicians usually sent abroad in conjunction with arms shipments have in some instances been accompanied by Czechoslovak military officers. In at least one Asian country Czechoslovak military officers are known to have served as advisors on nearly every facet of military science and tactics. Occasional visits by high-ranking Czechoslovak military officers to Afro-Asian nations and Cuba serve to maintain ties with these countries. Among Warsaw Pact nations, Czechoslovakia's participation in training of foreign military students and in military advisory programs is exceeded only by the Soviet Union.

6. Economic support and military budget (S)

a. Economic support

The Czechoslovak economy is able to supply the armed forces with food, quartermaster items, most ground forces equipment, and trainer aircraft. It is the most nearly self-sufficient of the Eastern European Communist countries in armaments production, but

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110009-4