Summary
2011 was another intensive year for the Austrian Armed forces, especially in terms of international operations. The developments in Kosovo and the deployment of ORF to reinforce KFOR in the second half of the last year as well as the continuation of operation EUFOR/ALTHEA in Bosnia reconfirmed the foreign-political focus on the Balkans. The developments in Syria showed that a calm situation over years nevertheless may escalate to a high threat level for UNDOF. Austria’s participation in UNIFIL as of November 2011 within the framework of UNTSO will define a second international operations focus in the Middle East. In the last year, for example, the C-130, which in 2010 had been equipped with the STRATAEROMEDEVAC capacity, was deployed even four times. Thanks to the year-long preparations in the field, the two deployments of the crisis support teams and the evacuation operations during the Arab Spring as well as the subsequent unrest in northern Africa were managed in a highly professional manner, although the operations had to be carried out on short notice.
Within Austria, the border surveillance assistance operation after the Schengen expansion was concluded by the end of the year. Disaster relief assistance operations in 2011 were rather confined in space; however, they required sophisticated technical solutions. The assistance on behalf of the police within the framework of the World Economic Forum, etc. and other support demand increasingly specialised skills.
The participation in the ORF and the EUBG 2012-II is another significant contribution to international crisis management and also increases the interoperability of the Austrian Armed Forces.
The outlook for the upcoming years shows a high probability that the troops in the Balkans be reduced, due to the political and, especially, the economic development. In the Middle East, political solutions for stabilisation are well out of reach for some time to come; therefore, the UN operations, which have been going on for years, will be continued in the next years. The developments since the Arab Spring in northern Africa, in essence, have the potential to be resolved relatively peacefully in the foreseeable future. Taking into account the events within the framework of the UN, in the future also operations in Africa will be a major challenge.
Whatever the result of the discussions about the domestic and international tasks of the Austrian Armed Forces will be, without doubt the demands of short-notice and difficult operations on the soldiers will require an even higher degree of professionalism.