20. September 2023

The Czech Republic hosted representatives of Air Forces from 25 countries

In the term 13.-14. In September, the first but very successful Future Air Force Conference took place in Prague, of which OMNIPOL was the general partner. A total of 65 military participants from 25 countries, including six commanders of the national air forces, 18 generals, 30 colonels and other officers, mostly pilots and training specialists, successfully created a new professional platform for mutual exchange of experiences and breaking down old ideas. And that was the main goal set by the organizers, i.e. the Future Forces Forum and the companies DEFCON and DALI Consulting.

The conference was opened by the former Commander of the Czech Air Force, retired Brigadier General Libor Štefánik, who then gave the floor to the current Czech Air Force Commander, Major General Petr Čepelka.

The Conference focused on four themes;

The challenges of modern military aviation training. 2. The challenges of Military Pilot recruitment. 3. Defence industry involvement in future training of serving Air Force personnel. 4. Understanding national Government perspectives in the training of military aviators.

The excellent presentations were led by leading Czech and foreign experts in aviation, including, for example, retired colonel Jaroslav Špaček, Director in LOM Praha, Brigadier General Csaba Ugrik, flight director of the Hungarian Defense Forces or Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Air Force .

Tomáš Novák, the Commercial Director of the Omnipol group Czech based subsidiary, Aircraft Industries, was one of the speakers. Through his presentation, he introduced the audience to the training of personnel, both air and ground crew to fly the iconic L 410 aircraft family of aircraft.

All Air Force commanders attending the Conference, at the request of the Czech Air Force Commander, joined him at the Winged Lion Statue in Klárov, Prague, and paid tribute to Czechoslovak airmen who served in the RAF during World War II.

At the end of the Conference, some of the delegates flew from Prague, in the Aircraft Industries L 410NG, to the factory in the Czech town of Kunovice. At the factory delegates could see an active production of the all-metal, high wing, turbo prop L410NG Aircraft. It gave an opportunity for the delegates to learn more, including training, about the Aircraft.

At the end of the factory tour the delegates were flown, once again, in the L410 NG from the factory owned airfield, to Ostrava Mosnov Airport. They would now join the annual NATO Days event. Once again NATO Days consisted of, a number of dynamic air and land forces displays.

This year NATO days attracted 185000 visitors over the two days, 17th and 18th of September. This makes i tone of the best attended shows in the whole of Europe.