On September 24, 2024, another event of the Czech Optical Cluster took place on the grounds of the University of Defense in Brno – a conference called “Optics in weapon systems – cooperation in military optics”, which follows on from the traditional workshops of the Czech Optical Cluster, held on the grounds of the University of Defense Brno.
The defense capability and security of the Czech Republic is a topic that, after a period of relative relaxation, has gained great intensity these days. The international situation is very tense, and our membership in NATO brings with it not only a higher degree of defense capability of our country, but also the necessity to fulfill our obligations, which are, among others, budgetary expenditures for the army.
The conference presented the possibilities of using optical technologies to strengthen the defense capability of the Czech Republic. The specialist topics focused mainly on the phenomenon of today, i.e. drones and their use for military purposes. The massive deployment of drones in military conflicts is confirmed daily by headlines in various media. Individual presentations dealt with the detection, localization and elimination of drones by optical means. Representatives of the University of Defense, EVPÚ Defence, Pramacom HT, VVÚ, Fraunhofer Institute, Crytur spoke. The representative of Photonics Cluster Ukraine also shared experiences directly from the battlefield environment. In his lecture, the representative of the General Directorate of Customs dealt with the very current legislative issue of the use of drones.
Other blocks of the conference were mainly devoted to the international cooperation of the EU and NATO, the possibility of supporting R&D projects through the PRODEF program, EDF and others. An interesting topic for discussion were the possibilities of using the potential of R&D workplaces and the production possibilities of small and medium-sized companies in the commercial area. 
This year’s conference was very successful, not only because it touched on very current topics, but also because it was visited by more than 90 participants, i.e. much more than in previous years. For next year, we are going to expand the format of the conference and prepare a two-day program, it is planned that the organization will take place in cooperation with the Czech Optical Cluster and AOBP.
A big thank you goes to the host of this event, who is the rector of the UO, col. GST doc. Ing. Jana Farlík, Ph.D. The person without whom these workshops and today’s conferences would not have seen the light of day is doc. Ing. Teodor Baláž, CSc. from the University of Defense, who is the guarantor of the military optics pillar of the Czech Optical Cluster and with his organizational team secured everything necessary for the successful course of the event.
Presentations from the workshop can be found here: Presentations
