Czech Air Force

The Czech Air Force (Czech: Vzdušné síly) is the air force branch of the Czech Armed Forces. Along with the Land Forces, the Air Force is the major Czech military force. With traditions of military aviation dating back to 1918, the Czech Air Force, together with the Slovak Air Force, succeeded the Czechoslovak Air Force in 1993. On 1 July 1997, the 3rd Tactical Aviation Corps and the 4th Air Defence Corps of the Czech Army were merged to form an independent Air Force Headquarters. The air force is responsible for securing the integrity of the Czech airspace through the NATO Integrated Air Defence System (NIADS), close air support to the Land Forces and for transportation tasks including government and state priority flights. In peacetime the air force contributes to tasks originating in the Czech laws and inter-ministerial agreements, for example to the air ambulance service or the SAR role. Czech JAS 39C/D Gripen multirole fighters fulfill primarily the tasks related to the air defence of the Czech Republic and the NATO within the system of NATINAMDS. In the so-called national reinforcement system the subsonic L-159 ALCA jets could be deployed to fulfil this task too. The radar surveillance of the airspace of the Czech Republic is the responsibility of the 26th Air Command, Control and Surveillance Regiment at Stará Boleslav. Altogether seven radio-technical companies are spread around the country so that they can continuously cover its whole territory.