Challenges of Modern Air Training and System Solution

BG Libor Štefánik gave an interview to a renowned magazine

In its May issue, the well-known aviation magazine Letectví a kosmonautika published an interview with a member of the organizing committee of Future Air Force Conference, BG Libor Štefánik.

New trends in military aviation

Retired Brigadier General Libor Štefánik has become one of the prominent faces of the Czech Air Force. However, after leaving the army, his name did not disappear from aviation events. Quite the contrary, which is why we asked him for an interview.

In July 2016, you said goodbye to the role of an active military pilot when you ended your position as Commander of the Czech Air Force. Where did your professional steps lead next?

In the second half of 2016, I was sent to the Kingdom of Sweden as a defence attaché with accreditation for Norway and Finland. In practice, this meant that I was part of the team at our embassy in Stockholm and travelled to other countries as needed. A defence attaché is a military diplomatic representative who performs several key tasks at the interface between diplomacy and defence. My role could be divided into several basic tasks. In particular, it was the diplomatic representation of our army, where I represented our armed forces and participated in official negotiations. I maintained and developed military cooperation, for example by organizing courses and joint exercises. Within the framework of diplomatic rules, it also involved intelligence activities, where developments in the field of defence and security are monitored, military policy and reforms are followed. My next task was to help Czech defence industry companies establish contacts in the assigned countries, participate in negotiations, and be present at trade fairs. It was important for my work as a defence attaché and made my work much easier that I knew many people in Sweden, Norway, and Finland from my previous work, whether as a pilot or commander of the Czech Air Force. For me personally, it was a great honour and perhaps confirmation that bilateral relations had been successfully deepened that I received the Order of the Polar Star from the King of Sweden at the end of my career.

You finally left the civil service in February 2020, but you can still be seen at many top events. What are you doing now?

I served in the Air Force for many years. I loved this job, so I wanted to stay there at least partly. So, we joined forces with Daniel Koštoval, a former Deputy Minister of Defence, and founded DALI Consulting. In 2020, we were approached by American General Jake Polumbo, with whom I served in Afghanistan in 2011-2012, with a request whether we could be helpful in communication between the company Draken, which operates the L-159E aircraft, and their manufacturer, Aero Vodochody Aerospace. Since then, our cooperation has developed and continues to this day. Another area we deal with is the promotion of our aviation industry abroad. We are trying to make Czech-made aircraft more visible for basic, or advanced flight training, as well as pilot training itself. We can offer a number of world-class aircraft types, whether they are ultralight aircraft or aircraft in the category produced by Zlin Aero, for example, suitable for acrobatics training. We need to make our aviation industry known abroad, and at the same time we want to rekindle young people's interest in this wonderful field, and we are looking for ways to achieve this.

However, you are also significantly involved in organizing international professional conferences on Future Air Force. What kind of event is it and what is its mission?

The Future Air Force conference was created as a joint initiative of people organizing two similarly thematically oriented events in the Czech Republic. Part of the Future Forces Forum in 2022 was the Future Air Force conference focused on the new generation combat aircraft that the Ministry of Defence planned to purchase. The second part was the activity of the group around Aero Vodochody preparing the L-39 Users Group. The organizers, DALI Consulting, Future Forces Forum and DEFCON, thus joined forces and the concept of the Future Air Force conference was created, which we have been organizing regularly since 2023, when we focus on training pilots in the new information environment. We are convinced that this area is not being given the attention it deserves in the public space. Let us note that the discussion about the F-35 very often turns on the alleged high price, whether we need them at all, or the large number of these aircraft. We practically do not hear how to make the most of the aircraft's capabilities. It is necessary to realize that the Czech Republic is not purchasing an aircraft, but a complex system that will not be fully utilized unless it is operated by well-trained people. The other side of the coin of training aviation personnel is the cost of training. One of the options for making it cheaper is a much broader use of the capacities and capabilities of the defence industry - not only in providing the training itself, but in developing simulation technologies. Flight training has not been the domain of the air forces alone for a long time. We have created our own framework for the conference, which we would like to maintain in the future. The program is divided into three blocks over two days. In the first block, we focus on the issue of flight training from the user's perspective. It is interesting to hear how individual countries approach pilot training and exchange experiences. The second block is devoted to the same topic, but from the perspective of the defence industry, which is playing an increasingly important role in this area. Companies offer both flight training itself and come up with new groundbreaking technologies that make it more efficient and cheaper. The third block is designed based on the evaluation of the discussion of the previous year's conference. Its topic is actually created by the participants of the event themselves. In the first year, we, as organizers, chose the area of ​​pilot shortage, which is a problem that is practically solved by the commanders of all air forces. Last year, we focused on training pilots and operators of unmanned aerial vehicles. The conference also includes a panel of air force commanders, or rather, key officials, and we allow participants to hear what problems they are facing and what challenges they have to face. This format is very popular and we hope that other interesting personalities will find their way to us. The conference is attended by military and civilian experts in aviation training, representatives of the academic community and the defence industry. We are very pleased to have the support of the Commander of the Air Force of the Czech Republic, Major General Petr Čepelka, who sends invitation letters to his counterparts every year, and thanks to this, we have the opportunity to welcome commanders and senior officials of air forces from various corners of the world to the conference. For example, last year, more than 100 representatives from 27 countries from all continents were present, including seven air force commanders. I must of course also mention the support of defence industry companies; without whose contribution it would not be possible to financially secure such an event.

You are now fully preparing this year's edition. What do you intend to focus on this time and have you already confirmed interesting guests, presentations and delegations?

Preparations for the Future Air Force 2025 conference began as soon as we said goodbye to the participants of the 2024 edition. This year, it will take place on September 17th and 18th in Prague. Of course, there will also be an accompanying program, which includes an introductory meeting the evening before the conference, the so-called Icebreak, and an Air Force gala evening at the end of the first day. We are interested in people getting to know each other informally and learning a bit about the history of the Czech Republic. Last year, we invited conference participants to the National Technical Museum. This year, we are very pleased to have the opportunity to organize the gala evening at the Army Museum in Žižkov. Thematically, we will stick to the concept that I described in my previous answer. What I would like to highlight, however, is the theme of the third block. In it, we will focus on the area of ​​cooperation between piloted and unmanned aircraft, which is the key to the Future Combat Air System concept. We are working to recruit high quality speakers. Our goal is a deeper connection and exchange of experiences between users and industry. That is why we have included the so-called Industry Day on Friday, September 19th at the Pardubice airport. I believe that there are not many, if any, conferences that offer such an opportunity to participants. We are pleased that in cooperation with the state-owned enterprise LOM Praha we managed to agree and offer this unique opportunity for a presentation for representatives of the defence industry. As for the speakers, I can perhaps reveal that we have a promise from the Commander of the French Air Force that one of the keynote speakers should be General Jean-Luc Moritz, Project Director of the Future Combat Air System. I think I can state with a high degree of certainty that the quality of the presentations will be even higher than in 2024 and the participants have something to look forward to.

One of the permanent partners of the conference is, for example, the Draken company, which is interesting, among other things, because it also operates Czech L-159E aircraft.

Draken is not well known to the general public in our country, but it is a major international provider of contract aviation services for the armed forces. Within its transatlantic heritage, it has its origins in two organizations: Draken International, operating in the USA, and FR Aviation, a British company specializing in electronic warfare training. In the Czech environment, Draken is known as one of the three operators of L-159 aircraft. In recent years, these aircraft have been used mainly in the training of pilots of the British Royal Air Force, when they replicate the tactics, techniques and procedures of potential opponents in air combat. However, they are also used in the training of forward air traffic controllers or radar controllers. Their base in Europe is Teesside Airport in northern England. However, their activities are also directed towards the old continent, where a contract for similar training was recently concluded, for example, with the Dutch Air Force.