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Czech army to commit more troops to NATO rapid response force

Xinhua, December 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Czech Chamber of Deputies approved on Friday a proposal of government, under which the Czech military will be able to commit more troops to the NATO rapid response force in 2016.

Instead of the previously approved 452 soldiers, the Czech Republic can send up to 816 soldiers to the NATO.

The reason for this change is the overall revision of the concept of rapid reaction forces, said Czech Defense Minister Martin Stropnicky.

He said that the structure, time of alert and the size of the original rapid response force are being revised, which involves the contributions by individual membership countries.

According to the proposal, Czech military will deploy up to 100 soldiers and a unit of transport helicopters to support special operations with less than 120 people for the rapid response forces that are being formed.

Up to 460 Czech soldiers will be able to operate in the second wave forces and up to 136 in the reserve forces.

Czech Senate approved the increase in the number of troops unanimously last week. Chairman of the Senate defense committee Frantisek Bublan had said that the increase is based on a decision on the revision of these forces.

The proposal was approved by 128 out of the 152 Czech deputies present on Friday. Enditem