EDITORIAL
Authors: BROŽIČ LILIANA , FURLAN BRANIMIR 
Published: February 2022

11 EDITORIAL Liliana Brožič, Branimir Furlan Dear readers, On the 20th anniversary of the work of the Slovenian Armed Forces in independent Slovenia, we have prepared a thematic edition of Contemporary Military Challenges entitled SlovenianArmed Forces Today and Tomorrow. Our wish was to attract parti- cipation of all who would wish to share their views of the path trodden by Slovenian armed forces from its beginnings in 1991 until today. Our purpose was to use a critical scientific and professional approach to find out where and what the Slovenian Armed Forces is like today and what it should be like in the future. After a number of achievements and important development we were hoping to receive papers by authors who have a different, more critical view of Slovenian defence forces or maybe only have a different perception of how they should operate. In 2010, the Mladina magazine drew up a petition ‘Abolish the armed forces’ and en- couraged all who supported the idea about a thorough reform of the armed forces to sign it. Among the undersigned, we selected a few names with PhD titles and invited them to write for the jubilee edition of our publication. Unfortunatel y, no one took up on our invitation and used an opportunity to present their views of the armed forces of the Republic of Slovenia in this environment as well. This issue presents the papers which offer highly diverse views of certain areas of operation in the Slovenian Armed Forces. The time will show just how topical were individual authors and what was their characterisation of the current situation and future development of Slovenian defence forces. Iztok Podbregar presented a view which differs substantially from the current orga- nisation of the Slovenian national defence system. According to him, the complexity of threats we identify in our environment demands multidisciplinary cooperation of various experts. Uroš Krek, who was directly involved in the process of joining the Alliance and actively participated in its work, wrote about the seven-year long NATO mem- bership, alternatives available before joining NATO and today’s effects. He also provides reflection on the future and wonders if we have any other options, and if there are any alternatives for the development of the defence system and defence forces within NATO membership. According to Alojz Šteiner, the transition period has ended with regard to social and economic changes and development in Slovenia. We also clearly emphasise the urgency of future changes, with the economic crisis as a special factor. As we deal with the results and the completion of the Slovenian defence and military transiti- on, we look out for the challenges on the way to the transformation period. In this context, the author wonders whether we want transformation and whether we can manage it. A view ahead, i.e. at the development of the Slovenian Armed Forces enabled by the Resolution on the General Long-term Programme of the Development and Equipping of the Slovenian Armed Forces until 2025 is presented by Ivan Mikuž and Primož Šavc, who explain the sensibleness of such a direction and at the same time highlight some of the past and current problems which might have a decisive impact on the development. Alenka Petek explains that the terms military profession and military professiona- lism are not synonymous. Military profession has its own characteristics. Whether at all and to what degree these characteristics are present in the Slovenian Armed Forces today is an indicator for whether professionalism is already characteristic of the force or still a long-term objective. Slovenian military education received attention of various authors and two papers have been produced.Dušan Toš discusses the so-called internal perspectives of military education, while Uroš Svete, Maja Garb, Vladimir Prebilič and Jelena Juvan try to show that Slovenia with its convergent model of the military education system may be well ahead of its allies and partners. On the other hand, the civil-mi- litary cooperation in the field of the military module as part as the defence studies filled the gap which impeded civil military experts from entering the military orga- nization and becoming officers. Logistics efficiency is influenced by the regulations in terms of its development, says Andrej Osterman. Therefore, the regulations should reflect special characteristics of the Slovenian Armed Forces and their logistics. Owing to the development of the society, influence of the global international environment, and other factors, operati- onal requirements will be subject to rapid changes in the future. Erik Kopač wrote that, in the Republic of Slovenia, the institutional rules which encourage more efficient provision of military capabilities have substantially 13 Sodobni vojaški izzivi/Contemporary Military Challenges improved in the last ten years. Nevertheless, we still face a number of deficiencies in the field of defence planning and military investments, which should in the future be corrected. With the selected contents we wished to honour the important anniversary as well as to contribute to a critical analysis of the current situation and the future of the Slovenian Armed Forces. The readers will assess for themselves how successful we were in selecting the content and the authors.