Military of Slovenia

Slovenian Army Slovenska vojska
Founded	1991
Service branches	Slovenian Navy Slovenian Air Force Slovenian Ground Army
Headquarters	Ljubljana
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	Danilo Türk (president of Slovenia)
Minister of Defense	Ljubica Jelušič
Chief of staff	Alojz Šteiner (Major General)
Manpower
Military age	18
Conscription	Abolished in 2003
Available for military service	496,929, age 17 (voluntary) (2005 est.)
Fit for military service	405,593, age 17 (voluntary) (2005 est.)
Active personnel	7,600 (professional soldiers) (ranked 123rd)
Reserve personnel	1,700 (contract reserve soldiers)
Deployed personnel	Kosovo -321  Afghanistan -90  Bosnia and Herzegovina-29  Lebanon-14  Macedonia-6  Serbia-3  Syria-2  Somalia -2
Expenditures
Budget	€ 507,780,067 (2010)[1]
Percent of GDP	1.6% (2009)[2]
Related articles
History	Slovenian War of Independence Slovenian Territorial Defence
Ranks	Slovenian military ranks

The Military of Slovenia consists of the Slovenian Armed Forces (also Slovenian Army; officially Slovene Slovenska vojska; SAF/SV). The SAF are the armed forces of Slovenia. Since 2003, it is organized as a fully professional standing army. The Commander-in-Chief of the SAF is the President of the Republic of Slovenia (Danilo Türk), while operational command is in the domain of the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces, the position being held since 2009 by Alojz Šteiner.

History

The military history of Slovenia spans less than a hundred years. Following the disintegration of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I, the Duchy of Styria was divided between the newly established states of German Austria and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Rudolf Maister, a Slovene major of the former Austro-Hungarian Army, liberated the town of Maribor in November 1918 and claimed it to the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. After a short fight with German Austrian provisional units, the current border was established, which mostly followed the ethnic-linguistic division between Slovenes and ethnic Germans in Styria.

The current Slovenian Armed Forces are descended from the Slovenian Territorial Defence (Teritorialna Obramba Republike Slovenije; or Slovene TO), formed in 1991 by fusion of Territorial Defence (formed in 1968 as a paramilitary complement to the regular army of the former Yugoslav within the territory of Slovenia) with secret alternative command structure, known as the Manoeuvre Structures of National Protection (Manevrska struktura narodne zaščite, or MSNZ), which was an existing but antiquated institution, (unique to Slovenia), intended to enable the republic to form an ad hoc defence structure, akin to a Home Guard. It was of negligible importance prior to 1990, with antiquated weapons and few members.

When Slovenia declared independence at the onset of the Yugoslav Wars in 1991, the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Slovenian police comprised the majority of forces engaging the Yugoslav People's Army during the Ten-Day War. The Slovenian Armed Forces were formally established in 1993 as a reorganization of the Slovenia Territorial Defence.

Flag of the Army

Current status

A major reorganization of the Slovenian Armed Forces is currently underway, with the goal of changing it from a territorial defense force into a deployable force primarily aimed at peacekeeping. After 1993, the Slovenian Armed Forces had relied on mandatory military service, with conscripts receiving 6–7 months of training. In 2003, the Slovenian Government abolished conscription and as of July 2004, the Slovenian Armed Forces had been almost completely reorganised into a professional army now based on volunteers. Currently there are approximately 7,600 active troops and approximately 1,700 in reserve, reduced from 55,000 personnel during conscription. The operational units now consist of three brigades, the 1st, 72nd and an Air Defense and Aviation Brigade; all three are subordinated to the Forces Command.

During a press conference on July 18, 2008,^[3] the Slovenian defense minister confirmed plans for the acquisition of a Russian Svetlyak class (Project 10412) patrol boat. Displacing 355 (full 395) tons and measuring 49.5 x 9.2 x 2.6 m, the vessel will have a maximum speed of 30 knots and a complement of 24. Armaments include one 30mm AK-630m cannon, two side-mounted 14.5mm MTPU machine guns, 9M120 anti-ship missile system and 16 air-defense missiles type Igla. The ship will be built by Almaz Shipbuilding^[4] of Saint Petersburg; delivery is expected in 2010. Total cost of the purchase is said to be $39.4 million, two-thirds of which will be covered by existing Russian debt.^[5]

NATO membership

Slovene KFOR unit

As part of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slovenia was never a member of the Warsaw Pact. Today, the foreign policy priority of NATO membership drives Slovenia's defense reorganization. Once many countries lifted the arms embargo on Slovenia in 1996, the country embarked on a military procurement program to bolster its status as a NATO candidate and to aid its transformation into a mobile force. Active in the SFOR deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia is also a charter member of Partnership for Peace and a regular participant in PfP exercises. The United States provides bilateral military assistance to Slovenia, including through the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, the State Partnership Program (aligned with Colorado), and the EUCOM Joint Contact Team Program.

Slovenia formally joined NATO in March 2004.^[6] The transition of its armed forces from a primarily conscript-based territorial defense organization to a professional force structure have the ultimate goal of creating NATO-interoperable combat units able to operate on an even par with units from other NATO armies. Implementation of interoperability objectives as determined by the Planning and Review Process (PARP) and the Individual Partnership Program (IPP) as part of Slovenia's PfP participation proceeds. Slovenia's elite units already train with and are integrated into international units including NATO members—for example as part of SFOR and on Cyprus. Its elite mountain troops will be assigned to the Multinational Land Force peacekeeping battalion with Italy, Hungary, and Croatia. Slovenia hosted its first PfP exercise in 1998--"Cooperative Adventure Exchange"--a multinational disaster-preparedness command post exercise involving almost 6,000 troops from 19 NATO and PfP member nations.

Slovenian soldiers are a part of international forces serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan,^[7] Iraq, Chad, Lebanon. They have also served in Cyprus and the Golan Heights as a part of UNFICYP and UNDOF respectively.

Organization

Slovenian Army Bell 412 Helicopter

The Slovenian Armed Forces are organized as single-branch armed forces with the army as their primary component. The personnel is divided into three categories:

• professional soldiers (full-time soldiers)
• contract reserve soldiers (serve up to 30 days per year)
• voluntary recruits (basic training)

Commands and units

Structure of the Slovenian Armed Forces

• General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces (Generalštab Slovenske vojske)

• Verification Centre of the Slovenian Armed Forces (Verifikacijski center Slovenske vojske)
• Forces Command of the Slovenian Armed Forces (Poveljstvo sil Slovenske vojske)

• 5th Reconnaissance & Intelligence Battalion
• 11th Signals Battalion
• 17th Military Police Battalion
• 430th Naval Detachment
• Special Operations Unit (ESD)

• 1st Brigade

• 10th Motorized Battalion
• 20th Motorized Battalion
• 74th Motorized Battalion
• 670th Command-Logistics Battalion

• 72nd Brigade

• 45th Armoured Battalion
• 132nd Mountain Battalion
• 460th Artillery Battalion
• 14th Engineer Battalion
• 18th NBC-Defence Battalion

• Air Defence and Aviation Brigade

• 9th Air Defence Battalion
• 15th Helicopter Battalion
• 16th Air Control Battalion
• 107th Flight Base
• Flight school

• Support Command

• 157th Logistics Battalion
• Medical Unit

Military airports (Slovenian army)

The Slovenian army currently maintains one military airport Cerklje ob Krki near town of Brežice. The airport's official name is Cerklje ob Krki Airbase.

The others that are partially military are:

• Ljubljana Airbase shares the airport with Ljubljana International Airport
• Lesce Airbase 2x helicopters Bell 412 are stationed there for mountain rescue

Barracks

Main article: List of Barracks of the Slovenian Armed Forces

Slovene honor Company

International cooperation

Slovenia is part of NATO and the European Union. The Slovenian Armed Forces have participate and presently participate in many aspects of both organizations.

Current Mission	Organization	Country	Nr. of personnel
ALTHEA	EUFOR	Bosnia and Herzegovina	25
Joint Enterprise	NATO	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2
Joint Enterprise	NATO	Kosovo	387
CENTCOM	NATO	U.S.	1
UNTSO	United Nations	Syria	2
ISAF	NATO	Afghanistan	88
UNIFIL	UN	Lebanon	14
Joint Enterprise	NATO	Serbia	3

Former Mission	Operation	Country	Organization	Nr. of personnel	Time
ALBA	Operation Sunrise	Albania	OSCE	21	May–July 1997
UNFICYP	/	Cyprus	United Nations	29	September 1997-June 2001
ALBA	Operation Allied Harbour	Albania	NATO	26	May–July 1999
UNMIK	/	Kosovo	United Nations	1	October 1999-December 2001
OHR	/	Bosnia and Herzegovina	United Nations	1	July 2001-January 2003
?	Operation Concordia	Republic of Macedonia	European Union	1	March 2003
Kosovo Force	Operation Joint Guardian	Kosovo	NATO	11	November 2003-May 2004
/	Nato support to Pakistan	Pakistan	NATO	2	November 2005-January 2006

International military exercises	Country	Organization	Nr. of personnel	Time
Cooperative Nugget 1997	Fort Polk, U.S.	Partnership for Peace/NATO		1997
Cooperative Adventure Exchange '98	Slovenia	NATO		1998
Cooperative Key 2002				2002
Cunning Wassel 2002				2002
Clever Ferret 2003				2003
Elite 2003				2003

Data

Military branches: Slovenian Army (includes Air and Naval Forces)

Military manpower - military age: 19 years of age

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 525,031 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 417,726 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 14,958 (2000 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $335 million (FY99)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.6% (FY99)

Gallery

• 

  Slovenian MAN Army Truck

• 

  MT-55A

• 

  Slovenian Armoured Vehicles

• 

  Slovene Army Humvee on patrol in Kosovo

• 

  Slovenian Convoy in Kosovo KFOR Mission

• 

  AS AL 532 Cougar of the Slovenian Air Force

• 

  10412 class patrol boat Triglav

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Defence Expenditures of NATO Countries (1985-2009)
3. ^ RTV Slovenija: Slovensko obalo bo varovala "Kresnica"
4. ^ Homepage of ALMAZ Shipbuilding company
5. ^ Slovensko obalo bo varovala "Kresnica" :: Prvi interaktivni multimedijski portal, MMC RTV Slovenija
6. ^ http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2004/03-march/e0329a.htm
7. ^ The Slovenia Times - Daily News

External links

• Official page (English)
• Slovenian Ministry of Defence official site (English)
• Slovenian Air Force
• Slovenian Armed Forces/Slovenska vojska