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Austria Army
Under the area defense strategy, which had determined the
army's organizational structure until 1993, the army was divided
into three principal elements: the standing alert force
(Bereitschaftstruppe) of active units, including the air
division; the mobile militia (Mobile Landwehr), organized as
eight mechanized reserve brigades to be deployed to key danger
spots in the event of mobilization; and the stationary militia
(Raumgebundene Landwehr) of twenty-six reserve infantry regiments
organized for territorial defense. Both the mobile militia and
the stationary militia were brought up to strength only in times
of mobilization or during periods allotted for refresher
training, usually three weeks in June. Training of conscripts was
conducted by twenty-eight training and equipment-holding
regiments (Landwehrstammregimenten). On mobilization,
these regiments would disband, with their cadre reassigned to
lead reserve units or form replacement regiments and battalions.
At the army level were a headquarters, guard, and special
forces battalions and an artillery battalion at cadre strength.
Two corps headquarters, one in the east at Graz and one in the
west at Salzburg, would, on mobilization, command the
provincially organized units in their respective zones. Each
corps included artillery, antitank, antiaircraft, and engineering
battalions and a logistics regiment, all on a cadre basis.
Each of the nine provincial military commands supervised the
training and maintenance activities of their training and
equipment-holding regiments. On mobilization, these nine commands
would convert to a divisional headquarters commanding mobile
militia, stationary militia, and other independent units.
The only active units immediately available in an emergency
were those of the standing alert force of some 15,000 career
soldiers supplemented by eight-month conscripts. The force was
organized as a mechanized division consisting of three armored
infantry brigades. Each brigade was composed of one tank
battalion, one mechanized infantry battalion, and one selfpropelled artillery battalion. Two of the brigades had antitank
battalions equipped with self-propelled weapons. The divisional
headquarters was at Baden near Vienna; the three brigades were
based in separate locations, also in the northeast of the
country.
The New Army Structure--the reorganization plan announced in
late 1991 and scheduled to be in place sometime in 1995--replaces
the previous two-corps structure with one of three corps. The new
corps is headquartered at Baden, with responsibility for the two
northeastern provinces of Lower Austria and Upper Austria
(see
fig. 13). Army headquarters will be eliminated, as will the
divisional structure for the three standing brigades. The three
corps--in effect, regional commands--will be directly subordinate
to the general troop inspector. The three mechanized brigades
will be placed directly under the new Third Corps at Baden,
although in the future one brigade may be assigned to each of the
three corps. The mobile militia will be reduced from eight to six
mechanized brigades. Each of the nine provincial commands will
have at least one militia regiment of two to six battalions as
well as local defense companies.
Total personnel strength--both standing forces and reserves--
is to be materially contracted under the new plan. The fully
mobilized army will decline in strength from 200,000 to 120,000.
The standing alert force will be reduced from 15,000 to 10,000.
Reaction time is to be radically shortened so that part of the
standing alert force can be deployed within hours to a crisis
zone (for example, one adjacent to the border with Slovenia). A
task force ready for immediate deployment will be maintained by
one of the mechanized brigades on a rotational basis. Separate
militia training companies to which all conscripts are assigned
will be dismantled; in the future, conscripts will undergo basic
training within their mobilization companies. Conscripts in the
final stages of their training could supplement the standing
forces by being poised for operational deployment at short
notice.
Data as of December 1993
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