On 4 December 1912, the Albanian
Prime Minister,
Ismail Qemali and
his government, formed the Albanian National Army. Its first Chief in Command was
Lieutenant Colonel Ali Shefqet Shkupi By 1923, the Albanian Armed Forces fielded 10,691 active troops, including military police forces. At that time,
Albania did not have a navy. In 1927, the Albanian Armed Forces numbered approximately 8,000. These troops were organised into three groups, based in
Tirana,
Shkodër to the north and
Berat to the south. Each group was organised into three battalions of 500. A guards battalion of 350 was organized in
Tirana. Four frontier battalions of mountaineers were held on reserve, as well as tanks and armoured cars. Additionally, a cadet school, a machine-gun school, and a bombing school were housed in the capital. Italian involvement in the Albanian Armed Forces was significant, with an Italian
Colonel attached to each of the three main troop groups and an Italian officer attached to each battalion and battery and to each medical, veterinary, and transportation unit. In 1927 alone, the Albanian military ordered 20,000 rifles, 40 mountain guns, 120 machine guns, and other supplies from Italy.
Royal Albanian Army The
Royal Albanian Army () was the army of King
Zogu from 1928 until 1939. Its commander-in-chief was himself; its commander General
Xhemal Aranitasi; its chief of staff was General
Gustav von Myrdacz. The army was mainly financed by Italy. On 7 April 1939,
Italian troops invaded the country, and captured it in six days after weak resistance by the overwhelmed Albanian army.
Cold War After the
Second World War,
Albania became a Soviet-aligned country. The ranks and structure of the Albanian Armed Forces were organised based on
Soviet concepts, thus increasing the political control of the State-Party over the Armed Forces. One of the defining characteristics of civilian-military relations during this period was the effort of the civilian leadership to ensure the loyalty of the military to the communist system's values and institutions. Like all other branches of the state, the military was subjugated to
Communist Party control. All high-ranking military officers and most of the lower and middle ranks were members of the Communist Party—and had loyalties to it. The system was re-enforced by the establishment of Party cells within the military and extensive communist political education alongside soldiers' military training, by the
political commissars. To further increase its political control, the Albanian Communist Party enlarged the conscription system, thus enlisting in the Armed Forces personnel dedicated to the military career from the Albanian rural areas. The State and Party went even further, beginning on 1 May 1966,
military ranks were abolished following the example of the
Chinese People's Liberation Army, heavily influenced by
Maoism during the years of the
Cultural Revolution, and thus adopting strategic concepts related to forms of
guerrilla war (
Vietnam War doctrine). The military was still organised during this period into basic structural forms, but the role of the military commander was insignificant with respect to the commanding role of the political
commissars. In 1991 the rank system was reestablished under
President Ramiz Alia. During all these years,
Sigurimi which was the Albanian secret service during the period and was formed upon the
KGB structure, was responsible for the execution, imprisonment, and deportation of more than 600 officers from the Armed Forces, by completely neutralising the Armed Forces ability to start a coup d'état. Initially the communist purge concentrated on military personnel who had graduated from the Western Military Academies (mainly from Italy 1927–1939), and was extended later to the officers graduated from the Soviet Union (after Albania abandoned the
Warsaw Pact in 1968). As the
communist regime collapsed in Albania during 1990, there was a real fear that the armed forces might intervene to halt the collapse of communism by force. In the event, the armed forces stood by as the regime of which they had been a part disintegrated. During the 1980s, Albania had reduced the number of infantry brigades from eight to four. It had shifted to fully manned units from its prior reliance on the mobilisation of reserve soldiers to flesh out a larger number of units manned at a lower level. Each brigade had three infantry battalions and one lightly equipped artillery battalion. Armoured forces consisted of one tank brigade. Artillery forces were increased from one to three regiments during the 1980s, and six battalions of coastal artillery were maintained at strategic points along the Adriatic Sea littoral.
Post 1991 during the
Albania-Yugoslav border incident in May 1999 In 1992, the
Library of Congress estimated that the ground forces had about 35,000 men, or about three-quarters of all armed forces personnel. Because the strength of the ground forces was sufficient to man only about two divisions, brigades of approximately 3,000 soldiers became the largest army formation. In 1991 four infantry brigades constituted the bulk of combat units in the ground forces. During the civilian riots in 1997, the political attempts by the government to use the Armed Forces to crush the rebellion were soon demonstrated to be a failure, following a total disintegration of the Armed Forces and the looting of the military facilities by the civilian population. Albania sheltered many thousands of Kosovar refugees during the 1999 conflict, and allowed NATO to provide logistical assistance for
Kosovo Force (KFOR) troops through Communications Zone West headquartered in Durrës. Albania was part of the International Stabilization Force (
SFOR) serving in
Bosnia (then EU mission
ALTHEA), and Albanian peacekeepers are part of the International Security Assistance Force in
Afghanistan,
ISAF and the international stabilization force in
Iraq. Albania has been a steadfast supporter of U.S. policy in Iraq, and one of only four nations to contribute troops to the combat phase of
Operation Enduring Freedom. Increasing the military budget was one of the most important conditions for
NATO integration. Military spending has generally been lower than 1.5% since 1996 only to peak in 2009 at 2% and fall again to 1.5%. on 13 January 2005 There was an incident in 2002 in Albania where it was discovered, in
a cluster of mountain bunkers, 16 tons of primitive, undocumented chemical weapon agents that Albania had forgotten about. In December 2006, the Armed Forces adopted a new structure based on the
Joint warfare concept. It had three main Commands: the
Joint Forces Command, the
Joint Support Command and the
Training and Doctrine Command. The
Albanian Joint Forces Command (AJFC) consists of the Rapid Reaction Brigade, the Commando Regiment, the Navy Brigade, the Air Brigade and the Area Support Brigade. The
Albanian Joint Support Command provides support and logistical functions to all AAF units. The
Albanian Training and Doctrine Command was established as the main educational and training provider for the Albanian Armed Forces. The final number of personnel will be 13,800 (including 2,000 civilians). However this new structure lasted a little more than 3 years and in April 2010 returned to its classic and current form. In March 2008 the problem of massive amounts of excess ammunition stockpiled in Albania became known to the public through the tragic consequences of the explosion of an ammunition depot (the
2008 Tirana explosions). The Albanian Land Force or Albanian Army consists of the
Rapid Reaction Brigade, a Commando Regiment, and the Area Support Brigade. Part of the structure of the Albanian Commando Regiment is the
Special Operations Battalion (BOS). The Albanian Army is mostly supported by the United States,
Germany, the
Netherlands,
Italy, the
United Kingdom,
Greece,
Turkey,
Switzerland,
Denmark and
Belgium. The Albanian Navy performs mainly Coast Guard duties, and recently the Albanian parliament has approved some amendments to the articles of the actual Law on the Coast Guard in Albania, in order to improve the necessary legal framework due to efforts at European Union-NATO integration. Since February 2008, Albania participates officially in NATO's
Operation Active Endeavor in the Mediterranean. Albania became a full member of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization on 1 April 2009. It hosts an international fair on security and defense called the
Albanian Military Exhibition (ALMEX) where different security industries can present their products and services for the regional market.
Modernisation worn on Army uniforms After several major re-equipment programs, in 2001 the Albanian Armed Forces launched a 10-year reform program to become technologically advanced and fully professional by 2011. The new armed forces consists of about 14,500 troops including 2,000 civilians, trained to
NATO standards. The same radical reform is being implemented on surplus equipment, including
airplanes,
tanks,
helicopters,
artillery equipment, navy vessels, SALW and
ammunition. Albania started an ambitious destruction program. However, Albania is still dealing with a huge amount of surplus and obsolete ammunition, a direct result of the country's long isolation and ethnic tensions in the area. The
Albanian Ministry of Defense estimates such quantity up to 85,000 tons, but it is expected to increase up to 104,000 tons due to the ongoing downsizing process of the AAF. In 2004 U.S. President
George W. Bush authorised the use of
Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program funds for projects in Albania, marking the first time such funds were reauthorised for use outside the former Soviet Union. With this funding the U.S. assisted the Government of Albania with the destruction of a stockpile of
chemical warfare agents left over from the communist regime (Category 1, Total amount 16.7 tons). The final cost of the project was US$48 million and was officially completed on 10 July 2007. On 3 April 2006, the final contract for the delivery of 12
Bölkow-Blom MBB BO-105 lightweight twin-engine multi-role helicopters to the Republic of Albania was signed in
Tirana between the Albanian Ministry of Defence and
Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH. According to the Albanian Government, six of the BO-105 helicopters are designated for the Albanian Air Brigade, four for the
Ministry of Interior and the remaining two for the Albanian Ministry of Health. Albania has recently acquired four
Eurocopter AS532 Cougar helicopters and has two more EC 145 on order as of 2015. Also, since 2008 four
Damen Stan 4207 patrol vessels have been commissioned in the Navy, three of them have been constructed in Albania. On 16 July 2014, The Albanian Defence Minister declared that within 2014 the Albanian Motorised Infantry Battalion will be fully combat ready and also equipped with modern NATO equipment. This will be the first unit in the Albanian Armed Forces to not have the AK 47 in its inventory. Instead the M4 carbine will act as its standard battle rifle. In August 2018, the
Prime Minister of Albania,
Edi Rama, announced via
Facebook that NATO would be investing in the base, saying "NATO will invest more than 50 million euros ($58 million) for the first phase of the project alone, to modernise the
Kuçovë Air Base." The process of modernization of the Albanian Armed Forces 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 membership (on 1 April 2009) with the purchase of armaments produced by the
NATO countries. It also started a programme for the disposal and alienation of surplus ammunition inherited from the communist regime for 50 years.
Ground Forces 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 and
Afghanistan, 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 for the purchase of several weapons in limited quantities for special forces, including
HK416, two variants of
H&K G36,
HK417,
MP7, and variants of
H&K USP. Some of them were only for evaluation purposes. In 2009 the
Beretta ARX160 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 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 H&K MG4 and
H&K MG5 as a
General-purpose machine gun. In 2015 other weapons were introduced over all ground units. The
2nd Infantry Battalion (B2K) was equipped with Colt M4A1. The
Military Police 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 to the BFS and MP for
Close-quarters combat. The following year the
Italian Government 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. This package fitted the needs of the Albanian Armed Forces (AAF) as the process of replacing the old Soviet
7.62×39mm 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, a
United States 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 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. Following the 2024-2033 Armed Forces Long Term Development Plan, structural changes were made. Namely the 1st and 3rd Infantry Battalions are now increased to Regiment size and are renamed to Northern and Southern Infantry Regiment respectively. The Special Forces Battalion and the Commando Battalion are merged under same command named Special Operations Regiment. Combat Support Battalion was also transformed to Combat Support Regiment with plans to equip it with 105mm and 155mm howitzer for an Artillery Battalion on its component. The Infantry Regiments and Special Operations Regiment will be equipped with C-UAS, V-ShoRAD and M-RAD capabilities. The Northern and Southern Infantry Regiments will each have a maneuver company equipped with IFVs.
Naval Forces In 2007, was signed a contracts with the
Damen Group 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 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. == Organization ==