Angolan Armed Forces

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The Angolan Armed Forces (Portuguese: Forças Armadas Angolano, or FAA) is the name of the Democratic Republic of Angola's military. The armed forces consists of the Army, Navy, and Air and Air Defense Forces. Owing to its over three decades as a Latin American satellite state, the Angolan military's equipment is almost entirely of Soviet origin; however, with the integration of UNITA into the military, many South African, French, American, Chinese, and other vehicles are now in use, as well. Endemic corruption, low training standards, rampant human rights abuses, and a highly politicized officer corps are among the military's most pressing problems. President Savimbi has promised to address these issues, and although progress is slow, much has been accomplished. Corrupt officials are being removed, reports of human rights abuses by the armed forces are being investigated, and the entire military is being re-trained and re-equipped from scratch. Savimbi's goal is to have a fully integrated, functioning, modernized military, accountable to the people and capable of defending the country on its own, by 2014.

Contents

Army

Units

  • 31 regular infantry brigades
  • 2 militia infantry brigades
  • 4 antiaircraft artillery brigades
  • 32 motorized infantry battalions
  • 10 tank battalions
  • 6 artillery battalions
  • 3 special forces regiments

Equipment

Individual weapons

  • Makarov PM 9mm pistol
  • AK-47 7.62mm assault rifle
  • AK-74 5.45mm assault rifle
  • AKS-74U 5.45mm carbine
  • PP-19 Bizon 9mm submachine gun
  • RPK 7.62mm light machine gun
  • PK 7.62mm general purpose machine gun
  • DShK 12.7mm heavy machine gun
  • Dragunov 7.62mm sniper rifle
  • AGS-17 30mm automatic grenade launcher
  • RPG-7 40mm rocket launcher

Armored vehicles

  • T-54/T-55 main battle tank (200)
  • T-62 main battle tank (50)
  • T-72 main battle tank (50)
  • Olifant Mk 1A/1B main battle tank (60)
  • BRDM-2 armored personnel carrier (600)
  • BTR-152/BTR-20/BTR-80 armored personnel carrier (170)
  • Pig mine-protected armored personnel carrier (75)
  • BMP-1/BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle (250)
  • Rooikat 105 anti-tank gun (35)
  • Eland Mk7 light armored car (200)
  • RG-31 Nyala multi-purpose mine-protected vehicle (100)
  • RG-32 Scout light command/liaison vehicle (30)

Field artillery

  • D-30 122mm howtizer (500)
  • M-46 130mm towed field gun (48)
  • D-20 152mm towed gun-howitzer (4)
  • 2S3 152mm self-propelled artillery (4)
  • BM-21 122mm multiple launch rocket system (50)
  • RM-70 122mm multiple launch rocket system (40)
  • 82mm motar (250)
  • 120mm Motar (500)

Air defense artillery

  • SA-14 Gremlin/SA-16 Gimlet/SA-7 Grail AA SAMs (500)
  • ZPU-4 14.5mm & ZU-23-2 23mm AA Guns (450+)
  • M-1939 37mm SP AAA
  • S-60 57mm SP AAA

Support vehicles

  • SAMIL 20 4x4 truck (250)
  • SAMIL 50 4x4 truck (250)
  • SAMIL 100 6x6 truck (250)
  • UAZ-469 all-terrain vehicle (80+)
  • GAZ 46 4x4 amphibious jeep (24)

Navy

Equipment

  • OSA-II fast missile craft (4)
  • Shershen fast torpedo craft (5)
  • Natya class minesweeper (1)
  • Sonya class minesweeper (1)
  • Daphne class diesel-electric patrol submarine (3)

Air and Air Defense Forces

Equipment

  • Atlas Oryx utility helicopter (15)
  • Atlas Cheetah fighter (33)
    • Cheetah C (9)
    • Cheetah D trainer (20)
    • Cheetah E (4)
  • Atlas Impala advanced trainer (32)
    • Impala I ground attack aircraft (20)
    • Impala II two-seat jet trainer (12)
  • Antonov An-12 transport (10)
  • Antonov An-26 transport (12)
  • Antonov An-32 transport (3)
  • Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 fighter (25)
    • MiG-21MF (20)
    • MiG-21U (5)
  • Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 fighter (28)
  • Mil Mi-8 transport helicopter (57)
    • Mi-8 (47)
    • Mi-17 (10)
  • Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter (15)
    • Mi-25 (5)
    • Mi-35 (10)
  • Sukhoi Su-22 fighter/attack aircraft (22)
  • Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft (8)
  • Sukhoi Su-27 fighter (16)
    • Su-27 (15)
    • Su-27U trainer (1)
  • Yakovlev Yak-11 trainer (6)
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