Military of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Armed Forces of Bosnia-Herzegovina ("OSBIH / ОСБИХ"; "Oružane snage BIH / Оружане снаге БИХ") is the official military force of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnian Armed forces were founded in 2005 and are composed of two founding armies: Bosniak-Croat, Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnian Serb, Army of Republika Srpska. The Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, founded in 2004, is in charge of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Conscription was completely abolished in Bosnia and Herzegovina effective on and from 1 January 2006. [ [http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/special/dayton/peacekeeping/feature-11 NATO and the Defence Reform Commission: partners for progress (SETimes.com) ] ]

tructure

*Chairman of the Joint Staff - Lt. General Sifet Podžić
*Minister of Defense - Selmo Cikotić

Locations of Military Forces

*Joint Command and Operational Command - Sarajevo
*Support Command - Banja Luka
*3 Infantry Brigades - Tuzla, Banja Luka, and Čapljina
*Air Forces Brigade - Banja Luka, Sarajevo and Tuzla
*Tactical Brigade - Sarajevo
*Infantry Battalions - Banja Luka, Bihać, Bijeljina, Bileća, Čapljina, Kiseljak, Livno, Orašje, Prijedor, Tuzla ,Ustikolin and Zenica
*Helicopter Battalion - Sarajevo and Banja Luka
*Air Defense Battalion - Sarajevo
*Air Reconnaissance Battalion - Banja Luka
*Air Support Battalion - Sarajevo and Banja Luka
*Artillery Battalion - Doboj, Mostar and Žepče
*Military Intelligence Battalion and Military Police Battalion - Butilama
*Armored Battalion - Tuzla
*De mining Battalion - Bugojno
*Logistics Bases - Doboj and Sarajevo

Defense Law

BiH Defense Law Defines the Following areas:

#Military of Bosnia and Herzegovina
#Government Institutions
#Entity jurisdictions and structure
#Budget and Financing
#Composition of Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina
#War declaration
#Natural disasters
#Conflict of interests and professionalism
#Oath to Bosnia-Herzegovina
#Flags, Anthem and Military Insignia
#Transitional and end orders

Units

Joint Command and Operational Command - Sarajevo
*1st Infantry Brigade (Tuzla)
*2nd Infantry Brigade (Banja Luka)
*3rd Infantry Brigade (Čapljina)
**Signals Platoon
**Military Police Platoon
**Reconnaissance Company
**1st Infantry Battalion
**2nd Infantry Battalion
**3rd Infantry Battalion
**Artillery Battalion (Doboj, Mostar and Žepče)

*Air Force and Air Defense Brigade (Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Tuzla)
**1st Helicopter Squadron
**2nd Helicopter Squadron
**Air Defense Battalion
**Early Warning and Surveillance Battalion
**Flight Support Battalion
*Tactical Support Brigade
**Engineer Battalion
**De-mining Battalion (Bugojno)
**MI Battalion
**Military Police Battalion
**Armor Battalion (Tuzla)
**NBC Defense Company
**Signals Company
**Signals Platoon

Support Command - Banja Luka
*Personal Management Command - TRADOC
**Training Section
**Training Section
***Combat Training Center
****Armored Mechanized Battalion
***Combat Simulation Center
***Professional Development Center
****Officers School
****NCO School
****Foreign Language Center
*Logistics Command
**Center for Movement Control
**Center for Material Management
**Main Logistics Base
**1st Logistics Support Battalion (Doboj i Sarajevo)
**2nd Logistics Support Battalion
**3rd Logistics Support Battalion
**4th Logistics Support Battalion
**5th Logistics Support Battalion

History

Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Army of the Republic of Bosnia And Herzegovina, was created on April 15 1992 during the early days of the Bosnian War

Before, the ARB&H was formally created, there existed a number of paramilitary groups such as the Green Berets, Patriotic League, Bosnia's Territorial Defence forces and civil defense groups, as well as many criminal gangs and collections of police and military professionals. The army was formed under poor circumstances, with a very low number of tanks, APCs and no military aviation assets.

The army was divided into Corps, each Corp was stationed in a territory. First commander was Sefer Halilović.

Army of Repubika Srpska

The Army of Republika Srpska, was created on May 12, 1992.

Before, the VRS was formally created, there were a number of paramilitary groups such as the Srpska Dobrovoljačka Garda, Beli Orlovi, as well as some Russian, Greek and other volunteers. Most of the paramilitary groups were not under the command of General Ratko Mladić. The army was equipped with ex-JNA inventory. It had about 200 tanks, mostly T-55s and 85 M-84s, and 150 APCs with several heavy artillery pieces. The Air Defense of VRS has shot down several aircraft, like F-16, Mirage 2000, F-18 and two Croatian Air Force MiG-21. The VRS received support from the Yugoslav Army and FRY until 1994, when Slobodan Milošević stopped military relations with Republika Srpska.

Croatian Defence Council

The Croatian Council of Defence was the main military formation of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia during the Bosnian War and it was first organized military force to with the aim to control the Croat populated areas. It is not to be confused with the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) which was a separate Croatian military unit

Foreign armies

In 1995-96, a NATO-led international peacekeeping force (IFOR) of 60,000 troops served in Bosnia, beginning on December 21st 1995 to implement and monitor the military aspects of the agreement.

IFOR was succeeded by a smaller, NATO-led Stabilization Force or SFOR. The number of SFOR troops was reduced first to 12,000 and then to 7,000.

SFOR was in turn succeeded by an even smaller, EU-led European Union Force or EUFOR (Althea). As of 2004, EUFOR numbers ca. 7,000 troops.

tatistical indicators

(Information from CIA World Fact Book)

Military service age and obligation:18 years of age for compulsory military service in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; 16 years of age in times of war; 18 years of age for Republika Srpska; 17 years of age for voluntary military service in the Federation and in the Republika Srpska; by law, military obligations cover all healthy men between the ages of 18 and 60, and all women between the ages of 18 and 55; service obligation is 4 months (July 2004) Manpower available for military service:
"males age 18-49:"1,034,367 (2005 est.)

Military Branches: "All branches are combined in to the OSBiH; Air, Land, and Mechanized Forces."

Manpower fit for military service:
"males age 18-49:"829,530 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
"males:"31,264 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:$450 million (FY06)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:4.5% (FY06)

Army Patches

Operations outside Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina deployed a unit of 37 men to destroy munitions and clear mines, in addition to 6 command personnel as part of the Multinational force in Iraq. The unit was first deployed to Fallujah, then Talil Air Base, and is now located at Camp Echo. In December 2006, the Bosnian government formerly extended its mandate through June 2007. Bosnia and Herzegovina is planning to send another 49 soldiers from the 6th infantry division to Iraq in August 2008, their mission will be to protect/guard Camp Victory in Baghdad.

ee also

* Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

References

External links

* [http://www.mod.gov.ba/index.php MoD of Bosnia and Herzegovina] Languageicon|Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian & English
* [http://www.euforbih.org/ European Union Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina - EUFOR] en icon
* [http://www.oscebih.org/oscebih_eng.asp OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina] en icon
* [http://www.afsouth.nato.int/NHQSA/DSSR/Factsheets/DSSR.htm NATO Headquarters Sarajevo Security Sector Reform information]