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Honduras Army
The Army of Honduras (Ejército de Honduras--EH) came
into its
modern form when changes were made in the previous militia
system
during the 1940s and 1950s. With assistance from the
United States,
the First Infantry Battalion was created in 1947 as a
traditional
infantry unit, and the Second Infantry Battalion was
formed during
the 1950s as a counterinsurgency unit. These two
battalions remain
important military commands and were headquartered near
the capital
city, Tegucigalpa, in the early 1990s.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the number of army combat
units
expanded dramatically, and major changes occurred in the
organization of the ground forces. Some of these changes
were
politically rather than militarily motivated, as, for
example, when
General López Arellano created the First Infantry Brigade
in 1971
to serve as his own private guard. In 1970 the army had
grown to
three infantry battalions complemented by an engineering
battalion
and an artillery battalion, which had been created
immediately
after the 1969 conflict with El Salvador. By the end of
the 1970s,
the number of infantry battalions had increased to ten,
and a
signal battalion had been added.
By 1983 troop strength had grown to 13,500. The army
had three
brigades, each composed of two infantry battalions and one
artillery battalion. In addition, there were six
independent
infantry battalions varying in size from 400 to 1,000 men.
Two of
the infantry battalions formed the Presidential Honor
Guard, which
was based in Tegucigalpa and under the personal command of
the
president. There was also an engineering battalion, an
armored car
regiment, and a special forces unit of battalion size.
The army continued to grow in size and strength and
complexity
during the 1980s, reaching a peak of 15,400 in 1989.
Beginning in
1990, because of severe reductions in the government's
military
budget, the army began to cut its troop strength, dropping
to
14,500 in 1991 and then to 14,000 in 1993. (See
Defense Budget
,
this ch.) The downward trend is expected to continue.
Currently,
the army is composed of three infantry brigades totaling
ten
regular infantry battalions, a special jungle group, one
artillery
battalion, one engineer battalion, and a signal battalion.
A single
armored calvary regiment is made up of four armored car
squadrons,
one reconnaissance squadron, a tank squadron, and one
artillery
battalion. General Army Headquarters has direct control of
territorial force composed of one special forces (airborne
qualified) battalion, one infantry battalion, one regular
airborne
battalion, the Honduran Military Training Academy, the
Francisco
Morazán Military Academy, the Commando School, and the
Officer
Candidate School.
The principal infantry weapons are Belgian FAL
automatic rifles
and United States-manufactured M-16s. The tank squadron is
equipped
with twelve British-made Scorpion light tanks, which have
a 400-
kilometer range and travel seventy-two kilometers per
hour. These
tanks give the army some rapid armored mobility because of
their
air transportability and high speed on the ground. The
army is also
equipped with towed artillery pieces, including
twenty-four 105mm
howitzers and four 155mm guns. Air defense capabilities
are
provided by thirty highly effective M167 Vulcan guns (see
table 8,
Appendix A).
Data as of December 1993
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