Algeria
FOREIGN MILITARY ASSISTANCE
Russian matériel of the type used by the Algerian Armed Forces:
Mi-24 helicopter and T-55 tank
In spite of periodic reports that Algeria was negotiating with
European manufacturers to produce weapons systems under license,
the country continues to depend heavily on outsiders to supply
the ANP. From independence through the 1980s, Algeria's most important
supplier remained the Soviet Union. It was estimated that nearly
90 percent of the equipment in the ANP inventory in 1993 was of
Soviet origin. Algerian leaders have frequently stated their desire
to diversify their sources of arms and to obtain access to up-to-date
Western equipment, but the country's straitened economic circumstances
have precluded a major shift to purchases from the West.
At independence the newly created ANP was using equipment from
various sources. Some small arms had been delivered to the ALN
during the war from China, Egypt, and other countries. The new
force also benefited from some military supplies turned over by
the French forces as they left the country and from Egypt's assistance
to the air unit. Overall, however, the military was very poorly
equipped; it lacked the heavy weapons associated with a modern
military establishment.
Overtures to Western nations by Ben Bella and Boumediene resulted
in lukewarm responses or, at best, offers on terms the Algerians
considered too stringent. The French government of Charles de
Gaulle, in particular, was reluctant to supply heavy items on
concessional terms to the country it had so recently fought. The
Soviet Union extended Algeria its first military credit, equivalent
to about US$100 million, following an urgent visit by Boumediene
to Moscow in late 1963 after a setback in the border war with
Morocco. Soviet heavy arms and equipment soon began flowing into
the country. After the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the Soviet
Union stepped up arms deliveries and extended additional credits.
Moroccan moves to annex the Western Sahara apparently provided
a catalyst for further arms purchases. In 1980 the Soviet Union
agreed to deliver an estimated US$3.5 billion in arms through
1985. Another agreement was signed in 1986 for a further US$2
billion in arms. These sales were on a credit basis highly favorable
to Algeria, with repayment over an extended period at low interest
rates. Nevertheless, Algeria was unwilling to enter into a close
military relationship with the Soviet Union. It refused the Soviet
Union basing rights at the large naval installation at Mers el
Kebir, which the French had handed over in 1968, and the holding
of joint military exercises.
Algeria received some of the most modern Soviet-made arms during
the 1975 to 1985 period. The ANP was one of the first armies outside
Eastern Europe to be equipped with the T-72 tank. It also received
the BMP-1 and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle, MiG-23 and MiG-25
fighter aircraft, Mi-24 attack helicopters, modern rapid-firing
artillery, and SA-2 and SA-3 air defense missiles. Although these
were the "export" versions of various models, which lacked the
capabilities of those in first-line Soviet units, they represented
high-quality weaponry.
The Soviet Union also provided extensive training to ANP personnel.
Between late 1963 and 1985, more than 3,500 officers and enlisted
personnel received technical instruction in the Soviet Union.
The number of Soviet military advisers assigned to Algeria to
train and guide ANP personnel in the use of Soviet equipment as
well as in tactical operations is estimated to have reached a
high of 3,000, although by 1993 the number of Russians had fallen
below 500.
During the 1980s, Algerian officials evinced a growing interest
in ending the Soviet Union's almost complete monopoly in the sale
of arms. The Benjedid government sought to practice strict nonalignment
in its relations with the superpowers. The Algerians were impressed
by the superior performance of Western equipment used by the Israelis
during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and by the more comprehensive
training and support packages Western suppliers provided to their
customers. Nonetheless, few negotiations with Western countries
were actually consummated, presumably because of Algeria's tight
budgetary and foreign-exchange limitations.
Available data reflected the continued predominance of the Soviet
Union and Eastern Europe as sources of weaponry. According to
ACDA, of a total of US$3,820 million in arms imports during the
period 1981 to 1985, about US$3,200 million originated in the
Soviet Union, US$170 million in the United States (primarily C-
130 transport aircraft), US$100 million in France, US$160 million
in Britain, and US$160 million in the Federal Republic of Germany
(West Germany). During the period 1985 to 1989, Algerian arms
imports totaled US$3,260 million, of which US$2,700 million originated
in the Soviet Union, US$430 million in other East European nations,
US$50 million in the United States, US$40 million in Britain,
and US$20 million in France. Deliveries reached a peak of US$1,400
million in 1981, representing 12.4 percent of all imports. By
1989 arms deliveries were down to US$600 million, only 6.8 percent
of total imports and continued to full sharply in 1990 and 1991.
Under a set of agreements signed in 1963 and 1967, French military
advisers maintained a permanent presence in Algeria after independence.
A number of places at the French military academy at St. Cyr and
the French gendarmerie school at Melun were allotted to Algerians.
In 1969 about 340 French officers and NCOs were detached to work
with the training services of the ANP. Relations chilled, however,
after France escalated its military support for Morocco during
the Western Sahara conflict; by 1981 only about twenty French
advisers remained in Algeria.
The administration of the socialist François Mitterrand, who
was elected president of France in 1981, was thought to be more
attuned to Algerian interests than previous French governments
had been. The French government increased the number of places
in French military schools for Algerian cadets and extended additional
credits. Algeria bought Panhard armored personnel carriers for
the gendarmerie and Milan antitank missiles, but more extensive
purchases, notably a national command-and-control radar network,
failed to materialize.
From independence through the early 1980s, the ANP had purchased
relatively small amounts of less sensitive military equipment
from the United States such as several executive transport aircraft
and unarmed primary trainers. Beginning in 1981, as part of a
rapprochement that was kindled by Algeria's role as an intermediary
in the release of the American hostages in Iran, Algerian requests
for more sensitive military equipment were reviewed more favorably.
In addition to the Lockheed C-130 transport aircraft, the United
States furnished telecommunications equipment and military trucks
during this period.
All of these sales were conducted on a commercial basis, and
all of the equipment was classified as nonlethal. During Benjedid's
1985 visit to the United States, however, Washington approved
Algeria's eligibility to purchase general defense equipment under
the conditions of the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Algerian
arms requests were examined on a case-by- case basis. Direct purchases
under FMS were minimal. They amounted to only US$2.2 million in
fiscal year (FY) 1991 and were estimated to reach only $1 million
in FY 1992 and FY 1993, although commercial transactions were
somewhat larger. Since 1985, the United States Department of Defense
has provided a small annual grant under the International Military
Education and Training Program to provide professional military
development courses and technical training for Algerian officers
in leadership positions or deemed to be potential leaders.
Algeria purchased two tank landing ships from Britain in the
early 1980s. In addition, the British undertook a joint project
with the Algerian navy for the delivery of twelve fast-attack
craft armed with Italian Otomat missiles. The first two of the
attack craft were built in Britain, and ten others were built
or assembled at the Mers el Kebir shipyard with British technical
assistance.
Algeria has purchased some patrol craft from China, but there
has been little other evidence of military cooperation between
the two countries since the War of Independence. In 1991 it was
disclosed that the Chinese were assisting in the construction
of a nuclear reactor at Ain Oussera, about 140 kilometers south
of Algiers. Subsequent reports stated that Iraq had sent scientists
and some uranium to Algeria. Algerians asserted that the reactor
was intended to produce only radioactive isotopes for medical
research and to generate electric power. However, the secrecy
surrounding the program, which had been initiated in 1986, raised
suspicions. Algeria is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non- Proliferation
Treaty, having rejected it on the principle that Algeria should
not have to renounce a nuclear weapons program when other nations
could continue with theirs. Algeria subsequently agreed to inspection
of the site by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Data as of December 1993
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