The Slovenian Ground Force is the primary component of

Slovenian Armed Forces The Slovenian Armed Forces or Slovenian Army (SAF; sl, Slovenska vojska; 'SV'' are the armed forces of Slovenia. Since 2003, it is organized as a fully professional standing army. The Commander-in-Chief of the SAF is the President of the Repu ...

History

The current Slovenian Armed Forces are descended from the Territorial Defense of the Republic of Slovenia (''Teritorialna Obramba Republike Slovenije''; ''TORS''), which was formed in 1968 as a paramilitary complement to the regular army of the former Yugoslav within the territory of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. The main objectives of TORS were to support the

Yugoslav National Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska a ...

(JNA) and conduct guerrilla operations in the event of an

invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

. When Slovenia declared independence at the onset of the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...

in 1991, the TORS and the Slovenian police comprised the majority of forces engaging the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska a ...

during the

Ten-Day War The Ten-Day War ( sl, desetdnevna vojna), or the Slovenian War of Independence (), was a brief armed conflict that followed Slovenia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991. It was fought between the separatists of the ...

. The Slovenian Armed Forces were formally established in 1993 as a reorganization of the TORS.

Equipment

Infantry

Small arms

Artillery

Tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armoured personnel carriers

Other vehicles

Stored equipment

* 10×

9M111 Fagot The 9K111 ''Fagot'' (russian: Фагот; " bassoon") is a second-generation tube-launched semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) wire-guided anti-tank missile system of the Soviet Union for use from ground or vehicle mounts. The 9K111 ...

anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...

* 18× M2A1 105 mm towed

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

* 8×

2S1 Gvozdika The 2S1 ''Gvozdika'' (russian: link=no, 2С1 «Гвоздика», "Carnation") is a Soviet self-propelled howitzer based on the MT-LBu multi-purpose chassis, mounting a 122 mm 2A18 howitzer. "2S1" is its GRAU designation. An alternative Rus ...

122 mm

self-propelled howitzer Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mo ...

* 9× Roland II

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

(2 units reportedly still in use with

Cerklje ob Krki Airport Cerklje ob Krki Airport ( sl, Letališče Cerklje ob Krki) is the only military airport in Slovenia, and a civilian airport. The Cerklje ob Krki Air Base operates at it. The airport is in the midst of an enlargement and restructuring. History T ...

air defense, rest stored with missiles demolished) * 5×

BRDM-2 The BRDM-2 (''Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina'', Боевая Разведывательная Дозорная Машина, literally "Combat Reconnaissance/Patrol Vehicle") is an amphibious armoured scout car used by states that we ...

(reportedly used by command company of 44th Armored-mechanized Battalion "Wolves") * Large quantities of

M69 mortar The M69 81 mm/82 mm medium weight Mortar (weapon), mortar is a Yugoslavian-designed Smoothbore, smooth bore, Muzzleloader, muzzle-loading, high-angle-of-fire weapon used for long-range Indirect fire, indirect fire support to light infant ...

and

M57 Mortar The Yugoslavian 60mm M57 Mortar was generally based on the design of the US 60mm M2 Mortar. Currently, the M57 Mortar is produced by the Serbian company PPT Namenska, and is still used by the 72nd Brigade for Special Operations of the Serbian Arme ...

, some used by reserve forces.

Former equipment

9K11 Malyutka The 9M14 Malyutka (russian: Малютка, links=no; "Little one", NATO reporting name: AT-3 Sagger) is a manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) wire-guided anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system developed in the Soviet Union. It was the first ...

* 6× Strela 1M * 12× BOV 3 * 12×

ZSU-57-2 The ZSU-57-2 Ob'yekt 500 is a Soviet self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), armed with two 57 mm autocannons. 'ZSU' stands for '' Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka'' (russian: link=no, Зенитная Самоходная Установ� ...

* 30× M48B1 76 mm towed

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, pr ...

* 4×

M-63 Plamen M-63 Plamen ( sr, Пламен; "flame") is a 128mm multiple rocket launcher developed in 1963 in Yugoslavia for use in the Yugoslav People's Army. Development Serbian Prof. Obrad Vučurović, mechanical engineer at the Military Technical Instit ...

Multiple rocket launcher system * 24×

M53/59 Praga The M53/59 Praga is a Czechoslovak self-propelled anti-aircraft gun developed in the late 1950s. It consists of a heavily modified Praga V3S six-wheel drive truck chassis, armed with a twin 30 mm AA autocannon mounted on the rear for which t ...

* 8× PT 76B * 52x BVP M-80A - Slovenia donated 35 BVP M-80As to Ukraine in June 2022, some in Pivka museum * 30x M-55S - Slovenia donated 28 M55S to Ukraine, 1 sold to Bangladesh, 1 in Pivka museum

References

{{Allied Land Command Military of Slovenia