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Uzbek Ground Forces

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Uzbek Ground Forces
O'zbekiston quruqlik qo'shinlari
Сухопутные войска Узбекистана
Founded1992
Country Uzbekistan
Branch Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan
TypeLand Force
RoleDefense of Uzbekistan
Size40,000 (est. 2006)
HeadquartersTashkent
Nickname(s)Uzbek Land Forces
Colors  Steel Blue
AnniversariesDefender of the Motherland Day - January 14
EngagementsTajik Civil War
Batken Conflict
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

The Uzbek Ground Forces are the land component of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Operating since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the army is made up of former Soviet Army units that were in the territory of Uzbekistan. As of 2006, it had around 40,000 active personnel. Much of the equipment it uses is also old Soviet material, and the government of Uzbekistan has not given much effort to replace it with modern equipment.[1]

History

The armed forces were created in 1992, and along with the army, the air and air defense forces, national guard, and border service were created. Islam Karimov, the President of Uzbekistan, had begun calling native Uzbeks in the Soviet Armed Forces back to Uzbekistan to fill the ranks of the newly created ground forces, though many refused to return and renounced their citizenship. Russians made up the majority of the officer corps, while the enlisted personnel were mainly Uzbek.

Uzbekistan then became the only Central Asian state that did not allow Russian Federation citizens to serve in the army, and began to replace the Slavic officers with ethnic Uzbeks. At independence, Slavic officers made up the command of the army, and thus an effort was made to give Uzbeks higher positions, giving Slavics lower ranks. The Slavs who stayed in Uzbekistan accepted Uzbek passports.

Three major military academies, the Academy of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan, Chirchiq Higher Tank Command and Engineering School, and Samarkand Higher Military Automobile Command School, were located in Uzbekistan. This caused the government to not send Uzbek officers to Russia for training. In 1994, they established the joint Armed Forces Academy, to train officers of all branches. Though the Uzbek language was becoming more in use by the army, Russian remained the main language used in training officers, due to the fact that most manuals were in Russian and that the Central Asian Turkic languages did not have proper military vocabulary.

In 1997, the United States CENTRASBAT program paid over $5 million to fund a training exercise between Uzbek and American troops that were going to be stationed in the country. Later in 1998, a US general attended an Uzbek base that had a unit which took part in the training. After asking for a show of hands of who took part in it, only two raised them. Most Uzbek soldiers leave the service when their mandatory conscription ends. The US forces have found this to be the case in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan as well. The army was similarly run to the Soviet one, in terms of command, service, and equipment. Senior commanders gave strict orders that allowed little freedom of decision.

In 2003, the defense ministry announced that the conscription time was lowered from 18 months to 12, and those who attended officer schools only had to serve nine months. It was encouraging higher ranking personnel to serve longer. Many young Uzbeks bribed recruitment officials to not draft them into the army, as dedovshchina was widespread.[1]

Organization

The Army includes five military districts, the Northwest at Nukus, the Southwest special military district at Karshi, the central military district at Dzhizak, and the East military district at Ferghana. In 2001, the Tashkent garrison was transformed into the fifth MD - the Tashkent military district.[2]

Uzbek soldiers practice hand to hand maneuvers

The headquarters of the military districts and their areas of responsibility are confirmed. The subordinate brigades listed in the table below have been attributed to the various military districts either because they are located in the same city as the military district headquarters or are clearly within the military districts' area of responsibility - that is, the 37th Motor Rifle Brigade at Andijan.

Formation Headquarters Location Notes
Northwest Military District HQ Nukus Karakalpakstan, Xorazm Province
? Motor Rifle Brigade Nukus
Southwest Special Military District HQ Karshi Qashqadaryo Province, Surxondaryo Province, Bukhara Province, Navoiy Province
25th Motor Rifle Brigade Karshi (Nuristan) SW MD, Military Unit No.08579
Central Military District HQ Dzhizak Dzhizak Province, Samarqand Province, Sirdaryo Province
? Artillery Brigade Kattaqurgan, Samarqand former 353 artillery bde
Eastern Military District(EMD) Ferghana Fergana Province, Andijan Province, Namangan Province
17th Air Assault Brigade Ferghana EMD, up to 5000 soldiers- 4th airborne bde
37th Motor Rifle Brigade Andijan EMD, referred to as 34th MR Bde[3]
? Artillery Brigade/Regiment Ferghana EMD, Из 105th Guards Air Assault Division, Soviet Airborne Troops
Tashkent Military District HQ Tashkent Tashkent Province, Established 2001
? Artillery Brigade/Regiment Tashkent Probably training artillery regiment in Chirchik

There are four motor rifle brigades whose designations are not known,[4] and the 17th Air Assault Brigade at Fergana, the former Soviet Airborne Forces' 387th Airborne Training Regiment. Motorized brigades are located around Bukhara, Samarqand, Termez, Nukus, and Andijan.[5]

Other Listed Formations

Exercises

Uzbek soldiers in the Exercise Cooperative Osprey '98

Uzbek troops participated in Partnership for Peace Exercise Cooperative Osprey '96 at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, hosted by the United States Marine Corps. They then participated as well in Exercise Cooperative Osprey '98.

In September 2004, the (then) Royal Welsh Regiment (now 3rd Bn The Royal Welsh) of the British Army participated with the Uzbek Army Peacekeeping Battalion in "Exercise Timurlane Express" in the Farish Mountain Training Area.[citation needed] This was a 3-week NATO sponsored Partnership for Peace training exercise.

Current equipment

Reportedly, Uzbek armed forces' small arms include the AK-47, AK-74, Dragunov sniper rifle, Makarov PM pistol, and PK.

Current equipment
Name Photo Origin Type Quantity
Small arms
AK-47 USSR Assault rifle
AKM

File:Akm rifle fullstock.jpg

USSR Assault rifle
AK-74

USSR Assault rifle
RPK

USSR Squad automatic weapon
PKM

USSR General purpose machine gun
SVD

USSR Designated marksman rifle
Grenade launchers
RPG-7

USSR Rocket-propelled grenade launcher
RPG-16[6] USSR Rocket-propelled grenade launcher
SPG-9

USSR Recoilless rifle
Tanks
T-80

USSR Main battle tank 80
T-72

USSR Main battle tank 70[7]
T-64B

USSR Main battle tank 100[7]
T-62M/MV

USSR Main battle tank 170[7]
T-54

USSR Main battle tank 80[7]
Infantry Fighting Vehicles
BMP-1

USSR Infantry fighting vehicle 180[7]
BMP-2

USSR Infantry fighting vehicle 270[7]
BMD-1

USSR Infantry fighting vehicle 120[7]
BMD-2

Russia Infantry fighting vehicle 9[7]
M-ATV

United States Infantry fighting vehicle 308[8][9]
Personnel carriers
BTR-60

USSR Armoured personnel carrier 24[7]
BTR-70

USSR Armoured personnel carrier 25[7]
BTR-80

USSR Armoured personnel carrier 210[7]
BTR-D

USSR Armoured personnel carrier 50[7]
BRM-1K

USSR Armoured personnel carrier 6[7]
BRDM-2

USSR Armoured personnel carrier 13[7]
Rocket artillery
BM-21 Grad

USSR 122mm Multiple Rocket Launcher 50[7]
BM-27 Uragan

USSR 220mm Multiple Rocket Launcher 48[7]
Tactical ballistic missile systems
Tochka

USSR Tactical ballistic missile 5[7]
HQ-9

China Tactical ballistic missile 1[10]
Self-propelled artillery
2S1 Gvozdika

USSR 122mm Self-Propelled Howitzer 18[7]
2S9 Nona

USSR Self-Propelled 120 mm Mortar 54[7]
2S5 Giatsint-S

USSR 152mm Self-Propelled Howitze 17[7]
2S7 Pion

USSR 203mm Self-Propelled Howitzer 48[7]
Logistics and utility vehicles
UAZ-469

USSR Utility jeep
Zil-131

USSR General purpose truck

References

  1. ^ a b [1]
  2. ^ Bakhtiyar Kamilov, Formation of Conceptual Approaches to the Problems of Ensuring National Security in Central Asian States - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan
  3. ^ Press-service of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan: Islam Karimov: no one can turn us from our chosen path
  4. ^ a b http://www8.brinkster.com/vad777/sng/uzbekistan.htm Archived 2007-10-18 at the Wayback Machine, accessed late September 2007 and June 2010
  5. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2013-03-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ Forecast 1996, p. 4.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u [↑ The International Institute For Strategic Studies IISS The Military Balance 2010. — Nuffield Press, 2010. — С. 373. — ISBN 978-1-85743-557-3.]
  8. ^ [2] the-military-balance-2016 —
  9. ^ Пентагон завершит поставки Узбекистану бронетехники в ближайшее время Archived 2015-07-19 at the Wayback Machine — 12news.uz, 15.06.2015
  10. ^ [3] thediplomat.com
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