|
Uzbekistan
The Armed Forces
The president of Uzbekistan is the commander in chief of the
armed forces, and he has authority to appoint and dismiss all
senior commanders. The minister of defense and the chief of staff
have operational and administrative control. Since early 1992,
President Karimov has exercised his supreme authority in making
appointments and in the application of military power. The staff
structure of the armed forces retains the configuration of the
Turkestan Military District. The structure includes an Operational
and Mobilization Organization Directorate and departments of intelligence,
signals, transport, CIS affairs, aviation, air defense, and missile
troops and artillery. In 1996 total military strength was estimated
at about 25,000. The armed forces are divided into four main components:
ground defense forces, air force, air defense, and national guard.
Army
The ground defense forces, largest of the four branches, numbered
20,400 troops in 1996, of which about 30 percent were professional
soldiers serving by contract and the remainder were conscripts.
The forces are divided into an army corps of three motorized rifle
brigades, one tank regiment, one engineer brigade, one artillery
brigade, two artillery regiments, one airborne brigade, and aviation,
logistics, and communications support units. The ground forces'
primary mission is to conduct rapid-reaction operations in cooperation
with other branches. Combined headquarters are at Tashkent; the
headquarters of the 360th Motor Rifle Division is at Termiz, and
that of the Airmobile Division is at Farghona. (Although the force
structure provides for no division-level units, they are designated
as such for the purpose of assigning headquarters.)
In 1996 Uzbekistan's active arsenal of conventional military
equipment included 179 main battle tanks; 383 armored personnel
carriers and infantry vehicles; 323 artillery pieces; forty-five
surface-to-air missiles; and fifteen antitank guns.
Air Force and Air Defense
A treaty signed in March 1994 by Russia and Uzbekistan defines
the terms of Russian assistance in training, allocation of air
fields, communications, and information on air space and air defense
installations. In 1995 almost all personnel in Uzbekistan's air
force were ethnic Russians. The Chirchiq Fighter Bomber Regiment,
taken over in the initial phase of nationalization of former Soviet
installations, has since been scaled down by eliminating older
aircraft, with the goal of reaching a force of 100 fixed-wing
aircraft and thirty-two armed helicopters. According to the Soviet
structure still in place, separate air and air defense forces
operate in support of ground forces; air force doctrine conforms
with Soviet doctrine. Some thirteen air bases are active.
In 1994 Uzbekistan's inventory of aircraft was still in the process
of reduction to meet treaty requirements. At that stage, the air
force was reported to have two types of interceptor jet, twenty
of the outmoded MiG-21 and thirty of the more sophisticated MiG-29.
For close air support, forty MiG-27s (foundation of the Chirchiq
regiment) and ten Su-17Ms were operational. Twenty An-2 light
transport planes, six An-12BP transports, and ten An-26 transports
made up the air force's transport fleet. Training aircraft included
twenty L-39C advanced trainers and an unknown number of Yak-52
basic trainers. Six Mi-8P/T transport helicopters were available.
The air defense system consisted of twenty operational Nudelman
9K31 low-altitude surface-to-air missiles, which in 1994 were
controlled by two Russian air defense regiments deployed along
the Afghan border.
National Guard
The National Guard was created immediately after independence
(August 1991) as an internal security force under the direct command
of the president, to replace the Soviet Internal Troops that had
provided internal security until that time. Although plans called
for a force of 1,000 troops including a ceremonial guard company,
a special purpose detachment, and a motorized rifle regiment,
reports indicate that only one battalion of the motorized rifle
regiment had been formed in 1994. The National Guard forces in
Tashkent, thought to number about 700, moved under the jurisdiction
of the Ministry of Internal Security in 1994.
Border Guards
The Uzbekistan Border Troop Command was established in March
1992, on the basis of the former Soviet Central Asian Border Troops
District. In 1994 the Frontier Guard, as it is also called, came
under the control of the Ministry of Internal Security. The force,
comprising about 1,000 troops in 1996, is under the command of
a deputy chairman of the National Security Committee, which formerly
was the Uzbekistan Committee for State Security (KGB). The Frontier
Guard works closely with the Russian Border Troops Command under
the terms of a 1992 agreement that provides for Russian training
of all Uzbekistani border troops and joint control of the Afghan
border.
Military Training
Three major Soviet-built training facilities are the foundation
of the military training program. The General Weapons Command
Academy in Tashkent trains noncommissioned officers (NCOs); the
Military Driving Academy in Samarqand is a transport school; and
the Chirchiq Tank School trains armor units. In 1993 all three
schools were stripped of the Soviet-style honorific names they
bore during the Soviet period. Plans call for expansion of the
three schools. Bilateral agreements with Russia and Turkey also
provide for training of Uzbekistani troops in those countries.
For aircraft training, Uzbekistan retains some Aero L-39C Albatross
turbofan trainers and piston-engine Yak-52 basic trainers that
had been used by the Soviet-era air force reserves.
Data as of March 1996
|
