9 Sodobni vojaški izzivi, junij 2013 – 15/št. 1
Contemporary Military Challenges, June 2013 – 15/No. 1
EDITORIAL
Liliana Brožič
Dear readers,
This year, the transformation of the Slovenian Armed Forces continues. Last year, 
the guidance on reduction of defence budget continued from the previous years. This 
required a thorough reflection, preparation of measures and constant upgrades in the 
defence system functioning.
In the overall effort to apply cuts to defence budgets, NATO member states searched 
for various solutions and each of them tackled this challenge in a slightly different 
way. The term transformation is thus a very topical term. We have heard and read a lot 
about it. However, in the last year, Smart Defence was certainly the one most related 
to the reduction in defence budgets. And what is the essence of Smart Defence? 
It is no longer about how to achieve more with less, but how to use the given resources 
to maximise the efficiency. This also requires changes in thinking, approaches, and 
mainly solutions. NATO member states considered different options to achieve best 
results in the current situation. The synergy of effects is supposed to be the right 
option for everything, whereby all of the engaged entities should contribute to the 
best of their abilities and in a way to best build an effective whole.
In the Slovenian Armed Forces, we have considered the given circumstances, 
studied our possibilities and with a new year we started a journey down the path 
of optimal functioning and changes. This process was called transformation of the 
Slovenian Armed Forces. It is just that topical issues from the domestic and inter-
national security environment are also discussed in our contributions. Some of the 
authors thus present their works and findings developed recently during the transfor-
mation process.
DOI:10.33179/BSV.99.SVI.11.CMC.15.1.00
10 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges
In this issue, Vinko Vegič is publishing his article »NATO crisis interventions –
lessons learned and challenges of the operation in Libya”. He describes what such 
a vast NATO operation means and what it brings in practice, i.e. in a situation where 
different doctrines and theoretic debates should provide appropriate solutions.
Branimir Furlan wrote the article »Professional armed forces without professional 
autonomy – is this possible?” where he shares a view on the developmental phases 
of the professionalization of the armed forces and military profession as the final 
goal bringing to foreground the question of competence and responsibility of the 
military for its own professional development.
Valter Bosotina and Branko Lavtar discuss “The renovation of uniform-supply 
system in the Slovenian Armed Forces”. In their article, they present the solutions for 
the improvement of the process used so far, which is necessary for the functioning 
of the Slovenian Armed Forces. The process is, at the same time, affected by various 
circumstances and influences, which require changes.
In his article “New approach to prediction and decision-making in the targeting 
process” Jurij Jurtela presents a subject which deals with fire support systems. He 
acquaints readers with the dilemmas that occur during individual military operations 
and require decisions about a great variety of matters. He provides suggestions on 
how to tackle those dilemmas and what tools to use for the best effect and superiority. 
Erik Kopač and Janja Vuga from the Faculty of Social Sciences write about 
Individual’s choice to seek employment in the Slovenian Armed Forces contract 
reserve. They used socio-psychological approach to study, which factors are the 
most decisive for this type of employment, and established that economic stimula-
tion plays an important role in this, while the essence lies in the personal attitude of 
each individual. More details are available in the article. 
Canadian anthropologist Donna Winslow studied modern defence forces. She 
authored a number of articles and reached many interesting findings. Two of the 
most famous include the findings about a scandal in Somalia and about the war in 
Chechnya. Maja Garb, Jelena Juvan and Uroš Svete honoured her memory with 
their article “From the questions of military culture to the analysis of anthropologi-
sts’ role in the armed forces – the work of Donna Winslow”.
Liliana Brožič