PRAGUE, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Continuing heatwave and drought affected Czech military exercise Dukla Spirit 2018, which will continue until Aug. 31 in the military area of Hradiste in Karlovy Vary, said Commander of Land Forces of the Czech Army Josef Kopecky at a press conference.

Extreme weather forced the Czech soldiers to exclude certain types of ammunition. "We are restricted to use tracer bullets, because we do not want to cause fire. It seems it will rain over the weekend, so next week we could manage live-fire ... The weather does not matter, a soldier has to endure all kinds of weather," Kopecky was quoted as saying.

During the exercise, however, soldiers need to avoid dehydration. According to Kopecky, practice of sharp shooting will require participation of a greater number of military firefighters.

This year military exercise Dukla Spirit 2018 in Hradiste involves around 550 soldiers, 40 armoured personnel carriers (APCs, also known as BMP) and others. Units of 72nd mechanized infantry regiment of Praslavice along with other members of the army have taken part in the training.

This has been the last major exercise before the trainees leave for their foreign mission abroad. The BMP-2 vehicles, which the soldiers train with, are no longer suitable for use on international missions.

Those machines were produced mostly in the late 1980s, even though they still have analogue systems, they do not meet NATO requirements particularly for means of connecting and data transmission. In this regard, Kopecky spoke about the necessity of the Czech army modernization, which is to be completed gradually by 2025.

The main task of the Dukla Spirit 2018 exercise is defense practice. For example, soldiers train shooting from hand-held weapons and elements of battlefield tactics. Dukla Spirit 2018 is also focused on deepening mutual cooperation of individual military units.