Military of Moldova
Encyclopedia
The Moldova
n Armed Forces
consist of the Ground Forces
and Air and Air Defense Forces.
has accepted all relevant arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union
. On October 30, 1992, Moldova ratified the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
, which establishes comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment and provides for the destruction of weapons in excess of those limits. It acceded to the provisions of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in October 1994 in Washington, DC. It does not have nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons.
Moldova joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's Partnership for Peace
on March 16, 1994.
A transition to a professional force of 12,000 to 15,000 volunteers was planned at first, but when fighting erupted in 1991 between supporters of the central government in Chişinău
and supporters of separatist regions, males between eighteen and forty years of age were mobilized, and the size of Moldova's military was temporarily expanded to meet the demands of the Transnistria
n conflict. In early 1995, the armed forces totaled some 11,000 volunteers, and there were plans to gradually create a professional army, similar to that of the United States.
(under the Ministry of Defense) consisted of 9,800 men organized into three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and one reconnaissance/assault battalion. Its equipment consisted of fifty-six ballistic missile
defenses; seventy-seven armored personnel carriers and sixty-seven "look-alikes;" eighteen 122 mm and fifty-three 152 mm towed artillery
units; nine 120 mm combined guns/mortar
s; seventy AT-4 Spigot
, nineteen AT-5 Spandrel
, and twenty-seven AT-6 Spiral anti-tank guided weapons; a 73 mm SPG-9
recoilless launcher, forty-five MT-12 100 mm anti-tank guns; and thirty ZU-23 23 mm and twelve S-60
57 mm air defense guns. Moldova has received some arms from former Soviet stocks maintained on the territory of the republic as well as undetermined quantities of arms from Romania
, particularly at the height of the fighting with Transnistria.
By 2006-7, the Moldovan Ground Forces
had been reduced to a strength of 5,710, including three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and independent SF and engineer battalions, plus an independent guard unit. Equipment included 44 BMD-1
AIFV, and 266 APCs, including 91 TAB-71s, as well as 227 artillery pieces.
Hip helicopters, five transport aircraft (including an Antonov An-72
Coaler), and twenty-five SA-3 Goa/SA-5 Gammon surface-to-air missile
s.
The 86th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment had been located at Markuleshty
since October 1951, and had been reequipped with MiG-29s in 1988. It had been part of the 119th Fighter Aviation Division, which had been resubordinated to the Soviet Black Sea Fleet
since December 1989.
Twenty-one of the MiG-29s were sold to the United States
in October 1997 to prevent their sale on the world market, and for research purposes. All the spare parts for those aircraft were also purchased, as were the accompanying 500 air to air missiles.
All the aircraft were transported from Moldova to the National Air Intelligence Center (NAIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
near Dayton, Ohio
in C-17 Globemaster III
transport planes over a period of two weeks.
As of 2006 all the MiG-29 fighters have been either sold or scrapped, and the Moldovan Air Force has only 2 An-2 Colts, 1 An-26 Curl, 2 An-72 Coalers, 8 Mi-8 Hips, and 12 SA-3 'Goa' SAMs in service, manned by 1,040 personnel.
" had armed forces of about 5,000 which included the Dnestr battalion of the Republic Guard and some 1,000 cossack
s.
As of early 1994, the former Soviet 14th Guards Army (about 9,200 troops) consisted of one army headquarters, the 59th Motor Rifle Division, one tank battalion, one artillery regiment, and one anti-aircraft brigade. Their equipment consisted of 120 main battle tank
s, 180 armoured fighting vehicle
s, and 130 artillery/multiple rocket launchers/mortars. By 2007 the now-Russian force, now designated the Operational Group of Russian Forces in Moldova, under the command of the Moscow Military District
had withered away to a strength of some 1500 which included the 8th Motor Rifle Brigade and a surface-to-air missile regiment.
Peacekeepers in Transnistria consisted circa 1994 of six airborne battalions supplied by Russia, three infantry battalions supplied by Moldova, and three airborne battalions supplied by the "Dnestr Republic."
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
n Armed Forces
Armed Forces
Armed Forces is Elvis Costello's third album, his second with the Attractions, and the first to officially credit the Attractions on the cover. It was released in the UK by Radar Records and in the U.S. by Columbia in 1979...
consist of the Ground Forces
Moldovan Ground Forces
The Moldovan Ground Forces is the land armed forces branch of the Moldovan Armed Forces.At the beginning of 1994, the Moldovan army consisted of 9,800 men organized into three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and one reconnaissance/assault battalion...
and Air and Air Defense Forces.
History
MoldovaMoldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
has accepted all relevant arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. On October 30, 1992, Moldova ratified the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
The original Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was negotiated and concluded during the last years of the Cold War and established comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe and mandated the destruction of excess weaponry...
, which establishes comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment and provides for the destruction of weapons in excess of those limits. It acceded to the provisions of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in October 1994 in Washington, DC. It does not have nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons.
Moldova joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's Partnership for Peace
Partnership for Peace
Partnership for Peace is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union; 22 States are members...
on March 16, 1994.
A transition to a professional force of 12,000 to 15,000 volunteers was planned at first, but when fighting erupted in 1991 between supporters of the central government in Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
and supporters of separatist regions, males between eighteen and forty years of age were mobilized, and the size of Moldova's military was temporarily expanded to meet the demands of the Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
n conflict. In early 1995, the armed forces totaled some 11,000 volunteers, and there were plans to gradually create a professional army, similar to that of the United States.
Land Forces
At the beginning of 1994, the Moldovan Ground ForcesMoldovan Ground Forces
The Moldovan Ground Forces is the land armed forces branch of the Moldovan Armed Forces.At the beginning of 1994, the Moldovan army consisted of 9,800 men organized into three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and one reconnaissance/assault battalion...
(under the Ministry of Defense) consisted of 9,800 men organized into three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and one reconnaissance/assault battalion. Its equipment consisted of fifty-six ballistic missile
Ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
defenses; seventy-seven armored personnel carriers and sixty-seven "look-alikes;" eighteen 122 mm and fifty-three 152 mm towed artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
units; nine 120 mm combined guns/mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
s; seventy AT-4 Spigot
AT-4 Spigot
The 9K111 Fagot is a SACLOS wire-guided anti-tank missile system of the Soviet Union. "9M111" is the GRAU designation of the missile. Its NATO reporting name is AT-4 Spigot.-Development:...
, nineteen AT-5 Spandrel
AT-5 Spandrel
The 9M113 Konkurs SACLOS wire-guided Anti-tank missile of the Soviet Union. "9M113" is the GRAU designation of the missile. Its NATO reporting name is AT-5 Spandrel.-Development:...
, and twenty-seven AT-6 Spiral anti-tank guided weapons; a 73 mm SPG-9
SPG-9
The SPG-9 Kopye is a Russian tripod-mounted man-portable, 73 millimetre calibre recoilless gun developed by the Soviet Union. It fires fin-stabilised, rocket-assisted HE and HEAT projectiles similar to those fired by the 73 mm 2A28 Grom low pressure gun of the BMP-1 vehicle...
recoilless launcher, forty-five MT-12 100 mm anti-tank guns; and thirty ZU-23 23 mm and twelve S-60
57 mm AZP S-60
57 mm AZP S-60 ; literally: Automatic anti-aircraft gun S-60) is a Soviet towed, road-transportable, short- to medium-range, single-barrel anti-aircraft gun from the 1950s. The gun was extensively used in Warsaw Pact, Middle Eastern and South-East Asian countries.-History:In the late 1940s, the...
57 mm air defense guns. Moldova has received some arms from former Soviet stocks maintained on the territory of the republic as well as undetermined quantities of arms from Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, particularly at the height of the fighting with Transnistria.
By 2006-7, the Moldovan Ground Forces
Moldovan Ground Forces
The Moldovan Ground Forces is the land armed forces branch of the Moldovan Armed Forces.At the beginning of 1994, the Moldovan army consisted of 9,800 men organized into three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and one reconnaissance/assault battalion...
had been reduced to a strength of 5,710, including three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and independent SF and engineer battalions, plus an independent guard unit. Equipment included 44 BMD-1
BMD-1
The BMD-1 is a Soviet airborne amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle, which was introduced in 1969 and first seen by the West in 1970. BMD stands for Boyevaya Mashina Desanta . It can be dropped by parachute and although it resembles the BMP-1 it is in fact much smaller...
AIFV, and 266 APCs, including 91 TAB-71s, as well as 227 artillery pieces.
Air Force
In 1994 the Moldovan Air Force consisted of 1,300 men organized into one fighter regiment, one helicopter squadron, and one missile brigade. Equipment used by the air force included thirty-one MiG-29 Fulcrum aircraft, eight Mi-8Mil Mi-8
The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship. The Mi-8 is the world's most-produced helicopter, and is used by over 50 countries. Russia is the largest operator of the Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopter....
Hip helicopters, five transport aircraft (including an Antonov An-72
Antonov An-72
The Antonov An-72 is a transport aircraft developed by Antonov in the former Soviet Union. It was designed as a STOL transport and intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-26, but variants have found success as commercial freighters.The An-72 gets its nickname, Cheburashka, from the large...
Coaler), and twenty-five SA-3 Goa/SA-5 Gammon surface-to-air missile
Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
s.
The 86th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment had been located at Markuleshty
Marculesti
Mărculeşti is a city in Floreşti district, in the northern Moldova, with a population of 2,081 at the 2004 census.-External links:*...
since October 1951, and had been reequipped with MiG-29s in 1988. It had been part of the 119th Fighter Aviation Division, which had been resubordinated to the Soviet Black Sea Fleet
Black Sea Fleet
The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic sub-unit of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov....
since December 1989.
Twenty-one of the MiG-29s were sold to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in October 1997 to prevent their sale on the world market, and for research purposes. All the spare parts for those aircraft were also purchased, as were the accompanying 500 air to air missiles.
All the aircraft were transported from Moldova to the National Air Intelligence Center (NAIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in Greene and Montgomery counties in the state of Ohio. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. Patterson Field is located approximately...
near Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
in C-17 Globemaster III
C-17 Globemaster III
The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft. Developed for the United States Air Force from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas, the C-17 is used for rapid strategic airlift of troops and cargo to main operating bases or forward operating bases throughout...
transport planes over a period of two weeks.
As of 2006 all the MiG-29 fighters have been either sold or scrapped, and the Moldovan Air Force has only 2 An-2 Colts, 1 An-26 Curl, 2 An-72 Coalers, 8 Mi-8 Hips, and 12 SA-3 'Goa' SAMs in service, manned by 1,040 personnel.
Foreign Forces
Other military forces also existed within Moldova. In early 1994, the government of the "Dnestr RepublicTransnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
" had armed forces of about 5,000 which included the Dnestr battalion of the Republic Guard and some 1,000 cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
s.
As of early 1994, the former Soviet 14th Guards Army (about 9,200 troops) consisted of one army headquarters, the 59th Motor Rifle Division, one tank battalion, one artillery regiment, and one anti-aircraft brigade. Their equipment consisted of 120 main battle tank
Main battle tank
A main battle tank , also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the heavy direct fire role of many modern armies. They were originally conceived to replace the light, medium, heavy and super-heavy tanks. Development was spurred onwards in the Cold War with the development...
s, 180 armoured fighting vehicle
Armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle is a combat vehicle, protected by strong armour and armed with weapons. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked....
s, and 130 artillery/multiple rocket launchers/mortars. By 2007 the now-Russian force, now designated the Operational Group of Russian Forces in Moldova, under the command of the Moscow Military District
Moscow Military District
The Moscow Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Leningrad Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District.-History:In the beginning of...
had withered away to a strength of some 1500 which included the 8th Motor Rifle Brigade and a surface-to-air missile regiment.
Peacekeepers in Transnistria consisted circa 1994 of six airborne battalions supplied by Russia, three infantry battalions supplied by Moldova, and three airborne battalions supplied by the "Dnestr Republic."
External links
- Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Moldova