Military equipment of Albania
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Modern equipment of the Albanian Army is a list of the equipment currently in use with the Albanian Armed Forces. It includes small arms,
combat vehicle A combat vehicle, also known as a ground combat vehicle, is a self-propelled, weaponized military vehicle used for combat operations in mechanized warfare. Combat vehicles can be wheeled or tracked. History Ancient The chariot is a type o ...
s, aircraft, watercraft, artillery and transport vehicles. Its main mission is the defense of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the
Republic of Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares l ...
, participation in humanitarian, combat, non-combat and peace support operations. After the integration of the
Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
in
North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
(NATO) was start implementing a defence modernisation programme which consist on the demolition of the surplus armament inherited from the communist regime and its replacement with modern weapons of NATO standards.


Modernisation program

The process of modernization of the
AAF AAF may refer to: Aviation * Aigle Azur (ICAO code), a French airline * Apalachicola Regional Airport (IATA code), in Apalachicola, Florida Corporations * American Air Filter, today a part of HVAC-equipment-maker Daikin Military * Albanian Arm ...
is based on the short-term, middle-term and long-term objectives and priorities of their restructuring and development aiming at achieving the increase of the operational capacities. The modernization programme started before the country's
North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
membership (on 1 April 2009) with the purchase of armaments produced by the
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
countries. It also started a programme for the disposal and alienation of surplus ammunition inherited from the communist regime for 50 years.
The modernization of the Land Forces began around 2006, starting with Special Forces such as the BFS (then known as the Batalioni i Operacioneve Speciale, BOS) and the Commandos. Seeing their involvement in NATO peacekeeping operations in
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
and
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, the need arose for more modern armaments given that until then these branches used old Soviet or Chinese era armaments. In 2007, the Ministry of Defense (MOD) reached agreement with the German company
Heckler & Koch Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK; ) is a German defense manufacturing company that manufactures handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and also ...
for the purchase of several weapons in limited quantities for special forces, including HK146, two variants of
H&K G36 The Heckler & Koch G36 (Gewehr 36) is a 5.56×45mm assault rifle designed in the early 1990s by German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch as a replacement for the heavier 7.62×51mm G3 battle rifle. It was accepted into service with the ''Bu ...
,
HK417 The Heckler & Koch HK417 is a battle rifle designed and manufactured by Heckler & Koch. Being the larger caliber version of the Heckler & Koch HK416, and chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO rifle cartridge, it is intended for use where the penetra ...
, MP7, and variants of H&K USP. Some of them were only for evaluation purposes. In 2009 the
Beretta ARX160 The Beretta ARX160 is an Italian modular assault rifle manufactured by Beretta. Developed for the Italian Armed Forces as part of the ''Soldato Futuro'' (English: "Future Soldier") program, the ARX160 was launched in 2008 as a commercial weapon s ...
was issued in much larger quantities thus becoming the standard assault rifle for the BFS over the HK416 and HK G-36. In 2015, the
Colt M4A1 The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO, gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively ...
joined ARX160 as standard use alongside it. For the 3 infantry battalions, the modernization started in 2013, initially introducing the as standard handgun the Beretta Px4, as a
light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sa ...
H&K MG4 and H&K MG5 as a
General-purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered for v ...
.
In 2015 other weapons were introduced over all ground units. The 2nd Infantry Battalion (B2K) was equipped with Colt M4A1. The
Military Police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear rec ...
was equipped with the Beretta ARX160 and added 4 new Iveco LMV vehicles. The Sako TRG-22 and TGR-44 were distributed to all sniper units, while the
Benelli M4 Super 90 The Benelli M4 is a semi-automatic shotgun produced by Italian firearm manufacturer Benelli Armi SpA, and the last of the "Benelli Super 90" series of semi-automatic shotguns. The M4 uses a proprietary action design called the "auto-regulating ga ...
to the BFS and MP for
Close-quarters combat Close-quarters combat (CQC) or close-quarters battle (CQB) is a tactical situation that involves a physical fight with firearms involved between multiple combatants at short range. It can occur between military units, police/corrections offic ...
.
The following year the
Italian Government The government of Italy is in the form of a democratic republic, and was established by a constitution in 1948. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial subdivisions, as well as a Head of State, or President. The Italian Constituti ...
offered an aid package of 5,000 Beretta AR70/90 units, which at the time were in the process of being withdrawn and replaced in favor of the Beretta ARX160 over
Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...
. This package fitted the needs of the Albanian Armed Forces (AAF) as the process of replacing the old Soviet
7.62×39mm The 7.62×39mm (aka 7.62 Soviet, formerly .30 Russian Short) round is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge of Soviet origin. The cartridge is widely used due to the worldwide proliferation of Russian SKS and AK-47 pattern rifles, as ...
ammunition with 5.56×45mm, a task-requirement by Standardization Agreement (STANAG) of NATO allies since Albania's accession in 2009. The process that was expected to last within 10 years, but the aid package helped completing the process 4 years earlier and without additional costs. After the process of replacing the AK47 variants (many of which were locally produced under the name ASh-78 and ASh-82) with the AR70/90 was ended, the rifle became the standard weapon and most used over most Land Forces branches.
In 2017 the Combat Support Battalion (Batalioni Mbështetjes së Luftimit, BML) was equipped with Hirtenberger M6 60mm and Hirtenberger M8 81mm mortars by the Austrian company Hirtenberger Defense Systems. Thus removing from use the Chinese made mortars from the communist period. In March of the same year came the first 77 HMMWV M1114 of an aid package totaling 250 armored vehicles. They are obtained from Excess Defense Articles (EDA) through the
Defense Security Cooperation Agency The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), as part of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), provides financial and technical assistance, transfer of defense matériel, training and services to allies, and promotes military-to-milit ...
, a
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
program to support NATO partners and allies. The vehicles were immediately put at the service of B1K. In 2019 came the second part of the package of 250 vehicles and it consisted of 36
International MaxxPro The International M1224 MaxxPro MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle is an armored fighting vehicle designed by American company Navistar International's subsidiary Navistar Defense along with the Israeli Plasan Sasa, who designed and m ...
and 1 MaxxPro Wrecker recovery vehicle. These vehicles joined the previous 3 MaxxPro bringing the total number of MRAPs used by Special Forces to 40.
In 2007, was signed a contracts with the
Damen Group The Damen Group is a Dutch defence, shipbuilding, and engineering conglomerate company based in Gorinchem, Netherlands. Though it is a major international group doing business in 120 countries, it remains a private family-owned company. Dame ...
for the or completing of the Albanian Naval Forces with patrol vessels to be used to perform a number of tasks and duties, including coastal patrols, search and rescue, control and monitoring of maritime traffic, marine environment protection. The contract envisaged the construction of 4 vessels of the Damen Stan 4207 class, which the first of them would be built in
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and 3 others in the Pasha Liman naval base in Albania. The first patrol vessel, named Iliria P-132, was built and delivered to the Albanian Coast Guard in August 2008. Enabling thus the following construction of 3 other patrol vessels in Pasha Liman Base by Albanian carpenters assisted by the experts of Damen Group. The second patrol vessel Oriku P-133 will be commissioned in September 2011, the third ship, Lisus P-133, will be operational in 2012 and fourth Butrint P-134 in 2013.


Weapons


Vehicles


Aircraft


Watercraft


Albanian Coast Guard


Albanian Navy


References


External links


Ministry of Defense

Albanian Armed Forces
{{Military equipment of Europe, state=collapsed Military equipment of Albania
Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
Equipment Equipment most commonly refers to a set of tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, onl ...
Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...