Czech Republic to get new cyber command and paratrooper regiment by 2020.

The Czech military plans to build cyber forces headquarters and launch a new paratrooper regiment, said Chief-of-Staff Ales Opata on Monday, July 17, 2018.

Czech Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff, General Ales Opata
(Credit: Czech Armed Forces/Facebook)

Opata said that the establishment of the headquarters is scheduled for early January in 2019. An executive part of the unit will be established from next July. It will acquire partial operational capability from 2020 and full operational capability around 2025. The headquarters might be located in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic.

According to Opata and Miroslav Feix who is in charge with the unit's establishment, there would be 400 to 500 soldiers in the established new unit.

Feix said cyber attacks are becoming a threat to state security. "We have to create cyber forces that would be capable of conducting combat activities in cyberspace and taking part in allied operations," Feix was quoted as saying.

The Czech military will also have a new paratrooper regiment in the autumn of 2020, added Czech Chief-of-Staff Ales Opata on Monday.

According to Opata, the paratrooper regiment will be developed to its planned full capabilities by 2026 at the latest.

Ivo Zelinka, the officer in charge of building the regiment, said the military would extend its ranks by recruiting 5,000 troops. But he did not disclose the planned size of the new regiment.