Armed Forces of Belarus

The Armed Forces of Belarus consists of Army and Aeronautics, All under the command of Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus. The Colonel General Leonid Maltsev is currently the defense minister. Being a landlocked, Belarus don't have a marine.

History
The army Belarus formed after the country gained independence in 1992 from the troops of the Belarusian Military District the Soviet Union. 1992 rendered by the 100,000 Soviet troops in Belarus took the oath to the new Belarusian state. About 70 percent of the officers were at the time Russians or Ukrainian. With the restructuring of the armed forces in main defensive forces as the central core of Reservists' associations and the establishment of a fast mobile Reaction Force there were always financial problems. The aim was the establishment of 75,000 soldiers.

On 11 January 1992, the Belarusian Parliament decided the assumption of all former Soviet troops on the territory under their own command and the formation of a Ministry of Defence. An exception was the strategic forces, tactical, together with the Nuclear weapons should return to Russia. On 4 February 1992 Parliament ratified the UN Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Agreement to reduce strategic nuclear weapons).

On 20 March 1992 were officially formed the new Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus. In April 1992, Belarus signed the first of the former Soviet Union Charter of Paris the CSCE (CSCE).

After the takeover Alyaksandr Lukashenka took over on 21 July 1994 Anatoly Kostenko the Office of Defense. On corruption charges in the leadership of the armed forces came Kostenko back in June 1995.

was in exchange for a rather small loan of € 25 million for the benefit of Belarus on 8 January 1995, Russia signed a lease agreement which grants the Russian armed forces by 2020 the use of military facilities and bases in Belarus. On 11 January 1995 Belarus also accepted the offer of the NATO on a military cooperation under the Partnership for Peace (PfP). In February 1995, informed the Belarusian Government, the implementation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (KSE) in 1990 because of financial problems repealed only in 2004 and ratified the 1999 Convention, adopted in Istanbul on the adaptation of the CFE Treaty.

Until December 1995 65 Intercontinental missiles Type RS-12M Topol (NATO: SS-25 Sickle) deducted from Belarus. The last two operational regiments with around 18 mobile nuclear missiles were deployed by the end of 1996 to Russia.

In January 1997, took over the former Chief of Staff Chumakov the office of former defense minister, but could make no progress in the development of military infrastructure. The readiness of the weapon was not completely restored. Thus, according to data from the existing western Belarus in the 130 combat aircraft, only about one third use.

On 19 December 1997 was again a Treaty between the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation on Military Cooperation and Agreement on the joint ensuring Regionalsicherheit in the military field completed. On 22 January 1998 was made at a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Russian-Belarusian Union in Moscow The agreement on the design for the common defense policy. Since the military reform in 2001, there are two Territorialkommandos Hrodna (Formerly the headquarters of the 28th army) Borisov (Former 65th Army).

In June 2006 a Russian-Belarusian large scale on was held with 8800 soldiers. In November 2006, Russia supplied modern anti-aircraft missile systems of the type S-300PS to the Belarusian armed forces. The defense budget in the same year amounted to 421 million U.S. dollars.

As part of a joint CIS air defense maintains a radar station in Russia Baranavichy Type "Volga", which is also used to collect ballistic missiles. In addition, both sides of their arms industries and exports, have closely coordinated.

In February 2008 it came to negotiations with Russia in 2009, this modern long-distance, Surface to air missile system S-400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) to combat Combat aircraft and Cruise missiles to acquire all altitudes.

Organization
Belarus and Russia are working very closely together militarily. In the event of an attack on Belarus, the country would take the air, while Russia takes over the operational command of land forces. The armed forces of Belarus would be led by a joint command, that of a Russian general of the Group of Russian troops in Kaliningrad is directed.

2007, the full strength of the armed forces some 72 940 soldiers, which was 18 170 at the Air Force. The number of reservists (service in the last 5 years) comprising 290 000 men, they will be convened annually to two-month exercises. The Universal conscription is 9-12 months.

Current Defense Minister Leonid Maltsev is Colonel-General (МАЛЬЦЕВ Леонид Семенович), his deputy chief of staff Sergei Gurulew

Army
The ground forces include 29 600 soldiers.

The Ministry of Defence report directly is a special forces brigade, two brigades with floor-to-surface missiles (including 60 pieces R-17 (Scud)) And a telecommunications Brigade.

The army is divided into three commands:
 * Army command with
 * two airborne brigades
 * a pioneer brigade
 * a bridge pioneer brigade
 * five artillery brigades
 * an NBC Regiment
 * Operational command of West
 * two independent infantry brigades
 * two artillery regiments
 * a rocket artillery regiment
 * a pioneer regiment
 * one air defense regiment
 * Operational command with Northwest
 * separate armored brigade
 * one air defense brigade
 * two artillery regiments
 * a rocket artillery regiment

Equipement
The equipment of the Army of the Republic of Belarus is essentially Soviet or Russian origin: Low stocks of medium tanks of the type T-62 and T-54 are also still available.
 * 1407 piece battle tank T-72B and T-72m
 * 96 pieces battle tank T-80B and T-80BV

IFV: Crew transport vehicle: Artillery: Multiple-: Defence Systems: A total of approximately 350 pieces of different types:
 * 1164 pieces BMP-2
 * 154 pieces BMD-1
 * 161 pieces BRM (BMP-R) 800px-Belarus-Transporting_T-72.jpg
 * 94 Units BMP-1
 * 446 pieces BTR-70
 * 194 pieces BTR-80
 * 66 pieces MT-LB
 * 33 pieces BTR-60
 * 22 pieces BTR-D
 * 161 pieces D-30 (2A18) 122 mm
 * 136 2A65 152 mm piece
 * 58 pcs D-20 152 mm
 * 50 pieces 152 mm 2A36
 * 246 pieces Gvosdika 2S1 122 mm
 * 163 pieces Akatziya 2S3 152 mm
 * 120 pieces Giatsint 2S5-S 152 mm
 * 54 pieces 2S9 Nona-S 120 mm
 * 36 pieces Pion 2S7 203 mm
 * 13 pieces 2S19 Msta-C 152 mm
 * 208 pieces BM-21 (9K51) Grade 122 mm
 * 3 pieces BM-21 (9P138) Grade-1 122 mm
 * 84 Pieces BM-27 (9P140) Uragan 220 mm
 * 40 pieces BM-30 (9A52) Smertsch 203 mm
 * 9K33 Osa (SA-18 Gecko)
 * S-300PS (SA-10 Grumble)
 * 9K37 Buk (SA-11 Gadfly)
 * 9A83 (pre-production of S-300V) (SA-12A Gladiator)
 * 9A82 (pre-production of S-300V) (SA-12B Giant)
 * 9K35M2 Strela-10m2 (SA-13B Gopher)

Air Force
The Air Force is a lack of Belarus with 18 170 soldiers of modern equipment and intensive training of pilots, which is due to the limited defense budget. In December 2001, the two areas of Air Force (VVS) and Air Defence (PVO were combined).

The main air bases are in Baranavichy and Bereza.

Among the air force organizations:
 * two interceptor bases
 * a Bomber-/Aufklärerbasis
 * a fighter-bomber base
 * a joint pilot basis
 * an independent helicopter base
 * a combat helicopter base
 * three helicopter bases

Equipment
The air forces have mainly on equipment from the former Soviet Union or Russia. Other suppliers in recent years, Poland and Ukraine.
 * Combat Aircraft:
 * 48 pieces MiG-29S Fulcrum-C
 * Interceptors:
 * 18 pieces Su-27P Flanker-B
 * Fighter:
 * 60 pieces Su-25 Frogfoot-A
 * 20 pieces Su-24MK Fencer-D
 * Reconnaissance and ELINT:
 * 6 pieces Su-24MR Fencer-E
 * Training Aircraft
 * 9 pieces MiG-29UB Fulcrum-B
 * 5 pieces Su-25UB Frogfoot B
 * 4 pieces Su-27UB Flanker-C
 * 10 L-39
 * Transport aircraft:
 * 16 pieces Il-76MD Candid
 * 7 pieces An-26 Curl-A
 * 2 items: An-26RT Curl-B
 * 2 pieces An-24 Coke
 * 1 Tu-134A Crusty
 * 1 Tu-154M Careless
 * Combat and combat support helicopter:
 * 22 pieces Mi-24P Hind-F and Mi-24K Hind
 * 52 pcs Mi-8C Hip-C, Mi-8MT Hip-H (also called Mi-17)
 * ECM/ELINTHelicopters
 * 6 pieces Mi-8PA Hip-K)
 * 6 pieces Mi-8SMV Hip-J)
 * Helicopters:
 * 12 pieces Mi-26 Halo