Uzbek Ground Forces

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]

Uzbek Ground Forces
O'zbekiston quruqlik qo'shinlari
Сухопутные войска Узбекистана
Uzbek soldiers during parachute training at Fort Bragg in 1997.
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)

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 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
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 DistrictHQ NukusKarakalpakstan, Xorazm Province
Southwest Special Military DistrictHQ KarshiQashqadaryo Province, Surxondaryo Province, Bukhara Province, Navoiy Province
Central Military DistrictHQ DzhizakDzhizak Province, Samarqand Province, Sirdaryo Province
Eastern Military DistrictHQ FerghanaFergana Province, Andijan Province, Namangan Province
Tashkent Military DistrictHQ TashkentTashkent Province, Established 2001

List of Formations

There are four motor rifle brigades,[3] 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.[4] 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)

Regular Army

Facilities
  • Kattakurgan Military Training Ground[10][11][12]
  • Gurumsaray Training Ground[13]
  • Farish Mountain Training Area

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. 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 USSRAssault rifle
AKM USSRAssault rifle
AK-74

USSRAssault rifle
RPK

USSRSquad automatic weapon
PKM

USSRGeneral purpose machine gun
SVD

USSRDesignated marksman rifle
Grenade launchers
RPG-7

USSRRocket-propelled grenade launcher
RPG-16[14] USSRRocket-propelled grenade launcher
SPG-9

USSRRecoilless rifle
Tanks
T-72

USSRMain battle tank70[15]
T-64B

USSRMain battle tank100[15]
T-62M/MV

USSRMain battle tank170[15]
T-54

USSRMain battle tank80[15]
Infantry fighting vehicles
BMP-1

USSRInfantry fighting vehicle180[15]
BMP-2

USSRInfantry fighting vehicle270[15]
BMD-1

USSRInfantry fighting vehicle120[15]
BMD-2

RussiaInfantry fighting vehicle9[15]
M-ATV

United StatesInfantry fighting vehicle308[16][17]
Nurol Ejder (4x4 version)N/A TurkeyInfantry fighting vehicle24 received (+1000 in order)[18]
Personnel carriers
BTR-60

USSRArmoured personnel carrier24[15]
BTR-70

USSRArmoured personnel carrier25[15]
BTR-80

USSRArmoured personnel carrier210[15]
BTR-D

USSRArmoured personnel carrier50[15]
BRM-1K

USSRArmoured personnel carrier6[15]
BRDM-2

USSRArmoured personnel carrier13[15]
Rocket artillery
BM-21 Grad

USSR122mm multiple rocket launcher50[15]
BM-27 Uragan

USSR220mm multiple rocket launcher48[15]
Tactical ballistic missile systems
Tochka

USSRTactical ballistic missile5[15]
HQ-9

ChinaTactical ballistic missile1 battery[19]
Self-propelled artillery
2S1 Gvozdika

USSR122mm self-propelled howitzer18[15]
2S9 Nona

USSRSelf-propelled 120 mm mortar54[15]
2S5 Giatsint-S

USSR152mm self-propelled howitzer17[15]
2S7 Pion

USSR203mm self-propelled howitzer48[15]
Logistics and utility vehicles
UAZ-469

USSRLight utility vehicle
ZIL-131

USSRGeneral purpose truck

References
  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. http://www8.brinkster.com/vad777/sng/uzbekistan.htm Archived 2007-10-18 at the Wayback Machine, accessed late September 2007 and June 2010
  4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2013-03-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Узбекистан — Десантура.ру - Узбекистан". desantura.ru. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  6. "Спецназ вооруженных сил Узбекистана". sof-mag.ru. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2013-03-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-09-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), accessed late September 2007 and June 2010
  9. 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
  10. akbaryusupov. "Uzbekistan's largest military training ground commissioned in Kattakurgan". tashkenttimes.uz. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  11. "Открыт крупнейший военный полигон Узбекистана (+фото)". Газета.uz (in Russian). 2019-11-07. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  12. "Открыт крупнейший военный полигон Узбекистана". www.securex.uz. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  13. akbaryusupov. "Joint Uzbek-Tajik military drills held at Gurumsaray training ground". tashkenttimes.uz. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  14. Forecast 1996, p. 4.
  15. [↑ The International Institute For Strategic Studies IISS The Military Balance 2010. — Nuffield Press, 2010. — С. 373. — ISBN 978-1-85743-557-3.]
  16. the-military-balance-2016 —
  17. Пентагон завершит поставки Узбекистану бронетехники в ближайшее время Archived 2015-07-19 at the Wayback Machine — 12news.uz, 15.06.2015
  19. thediplomat.com
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