The Czech military is to have up to 30,000 professional soldiers and 10,000 active reserve soldiers by 2030, under the new military build-up concept the government will discuss next week.
The Defence Ministry budget is to reach 2 percent of the GDP by 2024.
According to current estimates, this would mean the defence spending of about 133 billion crowns, while now it is 66.7 billion. By 2030, the military may be receiving about 150 billion crowns annually.
At the beginning of this year, some 21,500 career soldiers served in the military. If the military units have their full personnel, the military may have up to 25,000 professional soldiers at its disposal.
The number is gradually to increase to 30,000. The concept plans that by 2020, the number of soldiers is to reach almost 23,000, by 2025 27,245 and 30,000 five years later.
The recruitment of new soldiers is one of the risky places of the concept. In order to reach the required number, the military will have to employ some 2,400 new soldiers annually.
At the time of a crisis, the career soldiers are to be complemented by active reserves. Their intensive building started a few years ago and the military is satisfied with their involvement.
By mid-year, there were over 3,000 of them. The military wants to raise their number to 5,700 by 2025 and to 10,000 by 2030.
Under the concept, active reserve units are to be gradually armed so that they are able to act independently in the defence and protection of the places vital for national defence.
