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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
TypeArmy
Size40,000 (est. 2006)
Part ofArmed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan
HeadquartersTashkent
Nickname(s)Uzbek Land Forces
Colors  Steel Blue
AnniversariesDefender of the Motherland Day - January 14
EngagementsTajik Civil War
Batken Conflict
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
Insignia
Flag

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

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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 Soviet military academies, the Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School, the Chirchiq Higher Tank Command and Engineering School, and the 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

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Districts

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Uzbek soldiers practice hand to hand maneuvers

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 Eastern Military District at Ferghana. In 2001, the Tashkent Garrison was transformed into the Tashkent Military District.[2]

Formation Headquarters Location Notes
Northwest Military District HQ Nukus Karakalpakstan, Xorazm Province
Southwest Special Military District HQ Karshi Qashqadaryo Province, Surxondaryo Province, Bukhara Province, Navoiy Province
Central Military District HQ Dzhizak Dzhizak Province, Samarqand Province, Sirdaryo Province
Eastern Military District HQ Ferghana Fergana Province, Andijan Province, Namangan Province
Tashkent Military District HQ Tashkent Tashkent Province, Established 2001

Specialties[3]

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  • Motor Rifle Units
  • Tank Forces
  • Special Operations Forces
  • Reconnaissance
  • Engineering
  • Chemical units
  • Signals
  • Electronic warfare units
  • Logistics
  • Topogeodetic

List of Formations

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There are four motor rifle brigades,[4] and the 17th Air Assault Brigade at Fergana (the former 387th Airborne Training Regiment of the Soviet Airborne Forces). Motorized brigades are located around Bukhara, Samarqand, Termez, Nukus, and Andijan.[5] The subordinate brigades listed 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.

The Honour Guard Battalion at the Ministry of Defense.

Army Headquarters (Tashkent)

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Regular Army

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Facilities

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  • Kattakurgan Training Ground[11][12][13]
  • Gurumsaray Training Ground[14]
  • Farish Mountain Training Area[15]
  • Shorsu Training Ground[15]
  • Angren Training Ground[15]
  • Nuristan Training Ground[15]
  • Termez Training Ground[15]
  • Nukus Training Ground[15]

Exercises

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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.

Equipment

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See also: List of equipment of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan

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

Current equipment
Name Photo Origin Type Quantity
Small arms
Makarov PM Soviet Union Semi-automatic pistol N/A
Fort-12 Ukraine Semi-automatic pistol N/A
AKM Soviet Union Assault rifle N/A
AK-74

Soviet Union Assault rifle N/A
AKS-74U

Soviet Union Assault rifle N/A
RPK Soviet Union Squad automatic weapon N/A
RPK-74

Soviet Union Squad automatic weapon N/A
PKM

Soviet Union General-purpose machine gun N/A
SVD

Soviet Union Designated marksman rifle N/A
Grenade launchers
RPG-7

Soviet Union Rocket-propelled grenade launcher
RPG-16[16] Soviet Union Rocket-propelled grenade launcher
SPG-9

Soviet Union Recoilless gun
Tanks
T-72

Soviet Union Main battle tank 70[17]
T-64B

Soviet Union Main battle tank 100[17]
T-62M/MV

Soviet Union Main battle tank 170[17]
Infantry fighting vehicles
BMP-1

Soviet Union Infantry fighting vehicle 180[17]
BMP-2

Soviet Union Infantry fighting vehicle 270[17]
BMD-1

Soviet Union Infantry fighting vehicle 120[17]
BMD-2

Soviet Union Infantry fighting vehicle 9[17]
BRM-1K

Soviet Union Reconnaissance vehicle 6[17]
Infantry mobility vehicles
Oshkosh M-ATV

United States MRAP, Infantry mobility vehicle 308[18][19]
International MaxxPro United States MRAP, Infantry mobility vehicle 50
Typhoon-K Russia Armored combat vehicle 45+
Nurol Ejder (4x4 version) Turkey Infantry mobility vehicle 24 received (+1000 in order)[20]
Personnel carriers
BTR-60

Soviet Union Armoured personnel carrier 24[17]
BTR-70

Soviet Union Armoured personnel carrier 25[17]
BTR-80

Soviet Union Armoured personnel carrier 210[17]
BTR-82A

Russia Armoured personnel carrier 100
BTR-D

Soviet Union Armoured personnel carrier 50[17]
Armored car
BRDM-2

Soviet Union Armored car 13[17]
Rocket artillery
BM-21 Grad

Soviet Union 122mm multiple rocket launcher 50[17]
BM-27 Uragan

Soviet Union 220mm multiple rocket launcher 48[17]
Anti-aircraft
HQ-9

China Long-range surface-to-air missile 1 battery[21]
Self-propelled artillery
2S1 Gvozdika

Soviet Union 122mm self-propelled howitzer 18[17]
2S3 Akatsiya

Soviet Union 152mm self-propelled howitzer 17
2S9 Nona

Soviet Union Self-propelled 120 mm mortar 54[17]
2S5 Giatsint-S

Soviet Union 152mm self-propelled howitzer 17[17]
2S7 Pion

Soviet Union 203mm self-propelled howitzer 48[17]
Logistics and utility vehicles
UAZ-469

Soviet Union Light utility vehicle
ZIL-131

Soviet Union General purpose truck

References

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  1. ^ a b "Uzbekistan- Army".
  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. ^ "История Вооруженных Сил Республики Узбекистан". Министерство Обороны Республики Узбекистане. 2018-02-14. Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved 2021-05-16.
  4. ^ 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. ^ "Узбекистан — Десантура.ру - Узбекистан". desantura.ru. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  7. ^ "Спецназ вооруженных сил Узбекистана". sof-mag.ru. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  8. ^ "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)
  9. ^ "Web Hosting, Free Web Site Builder & Domain Name, Web Hosting Made Easy by Brinkster". Archived from the original on 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-09-29., accessed late September 2007 and June 2010
  10. ^ Press-service of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan: Islam Karimov: no one can turn us from our chosen path Archived 2012-09-10 at archive.today
  11. ^ akbaryusupov. "Uzbekistan's largest military training ground commissioned in Kattakurgan". tashkenttimes.uz. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  12. ^ "Открыт крупнейший военный полигон Узбекистана (+фото)". Газета.uz (in Russian). 2019-11-07. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  13. ^ "Открыт крупнейший военный полигон Узбекистана". www.securex.uz. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  14. ^ akbaryusupov. "Joint Uzbek-Tajik military drills held at Gurumsaray training ground". tashkenttimes.uz. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  15. ^ a b c d e f "«Мы мирные люди, но…» В Узбекистане прошли масштабные учения национальных ВС". Ритм Евразии. Archived from the original on 2022-08-23. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  16. ^ RPG.16 (Report). Forecast International. September 1996. p. 4.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s [↑ The International Institute For Strategic Studies IISS The Military Balance 2010. — Nuffield Press, 2010. — С. 373. — ISBN 978-1-85743-557-3.]
  18. ^ [1] Archived 2016-06-14 at the Wayback Machine the-military-balance-2016 —
  19. ^ Пентагон завершит поставки Узбекистану бронетехники в ближайшее время Archived 2015-07-19 at the Wayback Machine — 12news.uz, 15.06.2015
  20. ^ "Turkey has delivered 24 Ejder Yalcin armored vehicles to Army of Uzbekistan | August 2019 Global Defense Security army news industry | Defense Security global news industry army 2019 | Archive News year".
  21. ^ [2] thediplomat.com
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