When it comes to Albania, friends who are familiar with history always have mixed tastesAs the beacon of socialism in Europe at that time, Albania made great contributions to our country's return to the United NationsAnd my country also gave Albania a lot of selfless assistance under the difficult circumstances of that timeBut the course of history is always unpredictable, after more than 20 years of grievances and hatred, Albania chose to backstab and joined NATO in 1999, you must know that 1999 is the year when NATO bombed the embassy of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
After joining NATO, Albania's economic strength has not improved significantly, and it is still the poorest country in NATO, with a total land area of 2With a GDP of 80,000 square kilometers and a small country about the size of Guilin, the vice provincial capital of Guangxi, China, limited by the special geographical location of Southeast Europe and a weak economic foundation, the GDP in 2023 will be 15.1 billion US dollars, and the per capita GDP of 7,300 US dollars ranks first in NATO. Today we will take stock of the military strength of Albania, which is ranked 90th in the world.
The Albanian Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Albanian Army, the Albanian Air Force and the Albanian Navy, with a total strength of 6,600 troops currently on active duty.
In the 80s of the 20th century, the Albanian Army had 4 infantry brigades and 1 tank brigade, each of which had 3 infantry battalions and 1 light artillery battalion. And 6 shore artillery battalions were deployed in strategic locations along the Adriatic coast, and after joining NATO, military reforms were carried out, and the army strength was significantly reducedAt present, the army consists of three infantry battalions, one special operations battalion, and one support battalion, with a total strength of about 2,335 troops, of which the infantry battalion is composed of three companies, each company has 100 to 130 soldiers, and the entire battalion has a total of about 700 people.
The Albanian Army does not currently have an active tank battalion establishment, but Albania still has 40 Type 59 tanks aided by our country, according to a 2019 report by the Albanian Ministry of DefenseAn estimated 40 of the 721 tanks in the inventory are combat-ready and capable of being recalled to service immediately without prior maintenance.
The main equipment of the infantry battalion is basically aided by NATO countries, 130 M113 armored personnel carriers, 242 Humvee light armored vehicles aided by the United States, and 150 Land Rover Defenders aided by the United Kingdom and TurkeyThe Albanian Army even retains a large number of Chinese-made Type 56 assault rifles.
The Albanian Navy currently has a total of 1,000 active troops and 19 patrol boats, the largest of which has a displacement of 208 tonsOf the Type 4207 patrol boats manufactured by Dutch shipyards, three of which were built in Albania, and some of the seacraft were purchased or donated from Italy, the United States, China or the Soviet UnionMost of the former Soviet or Chinese ships have been decommissioned, and only one Soviet-made minesweeper remains in service.
Under a number of agreements reached between 1998 and 2004, Albania received donations from the United States and Italy for use in search and rescue operations, with the United States donating five ships in 1998, Italy six in 2002 and Italy five more in 2004. In June 2007, Albania reorganized its navy, which now consists of two patrol boat formations and one logistics battalion.
After the collapse of relations between the Soviet Union and Albania, a large number of Shenyang J-6 fighters were purchased from China, and in the early 1970s, Albania replaced the MiG-12PM fighters with 12 more advanced Chengdu J-7 A fighters. In the 70s and early 80s, the Albanian Air Force was armed with a total of 142 Shenyang J-6Cs, 12 Chengdu J-7A, and 4 Soviet-made Il-14 transport aircraft, which was also the peak of the Albanian Air Force.
With the bad relations with China, due to the lack of repair spare parts and maintenance capabilities,All fixed-wing aircraft have been decommissioned, and the Albanian Air Force is becoming more and more talkative, with a total of 650 active soldiers, a total of 22 *** and 15 UAVs.
At present, Albania's most advanced *** is 2 American-made UH-60 Black Hawk General Motors, and there are 4 Puma and Turkish-made TB-2 UAVs.
Summary: Although Albania is a small country, but due to its unique geographical location, the waves in modern history are far stronger than its strength, relying only on the aid of major countries to survive is not a long-term solution, the current military strength is better than nothing, but for its land area and economic strength, the use of military force is obviously a worse option.