Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan


The Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan, is the name of the unified armed forces of Uzbekistan, consisting of a Ground force, Air and Air Defense forces, National guard a Frontier service. and a Navy. It is reported to be the largest, and the strongest in Central Asia.
Uzbekistan and Russia signed a mutual defence pact in 2005, that will also result in closer military cooperation. This marked a stark contrast to a few years earlier, when the US appeared to be Uzbekistan's favoured foreign friend, and relations with Russia were cooler.
'The country also began professionalizing its military, an effort that has only limited success and erratic government support. But even in Uzbekistan, these changes represent merely a modest beginning and most of the benefits are concentrated in a few elite, higher readiness formations rather than uniformly applied to the entire force. The Uzbek military is woefully inadequate, but it is far superior to its neighbours.' Uzbekistani military, by far, is alongside Kazakhstan, are both wealthy and quickly developed arms.
The government maintains a command and staff college for the military in Tashkent, based on the former Soviet TVOKU higher command college.

History

, the capital of Uzbekistan, used to be the headquarters of the Soviet Turkestan Military District and on 20 February 1992, the new Ministry of Defence took over the offices which had been formerly occupied by the district headquarters staff. The Uzbek SSR had the strongest Soviet military presence of the other Central Asian Republics, controlling its own and operating its own domestic Ministry of Internal Affairs independent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union. On 2 July 1992 a Presidential Decree established a Ministry of Defence to supersede the Ministry of Defence Affairs. Over the succeeding years, Uzbekistan replaced Russian officers with ethnic Uzbeks and restructured the military to focus on targets like civil unrest, drug trafficking, and Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

Activities and foreign relations

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States leased the Karshi-Khanabad airbase in southern Uzbekistan, which borders Afghanistan. The American base there was called "Camp Stronghold Freedom," yet was more often referred to as "K2 Airbase" by the personnel in theater.
In May 2005, the military was involved in suppressing unrest in the Ferghana Valley city of Andijan, which became known as the Andijan massacre. Consequently, the EU banned arms sales and imposed a one-year visa ban on 12 senior officials, including the security chief and interior and defence ministers, accusing them of bearing responsibility for the killings.
In the aftermath of the incident, President Karimov dismissed several senior military figures: Defense Minister Kadyr Gulyamov, Head of the Joint Headquarters of the Armed Forces Ismail
Ergashev, and Commander of the Eastern military district Kosimali Akhmedov. Burnashev and Chernykh said that '..although these dismissals did not change the formal system of administration in the security and military structures, they reflected serious shifts in power relations among regional elites representing their clans.'
A joint statement of the member countries of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation issued in early July, 2005 on a conference in Nur-Sultan called for a withdrawal of US troops from military bases in Central Asia. On July 29, 2005, Uzbekistan invoked a provision asking the U.S. to leave within 180 days. On November 21, 2005, the withdrawal of US troops from Karshi-Khanabad and any other bases was completed.
The European Union lifted the arms sales ban in 2009.

Arms control and non-proliferation

The government has accepted the arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union, and acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear state. It has also supported an active program by the U.S. Department of Defense Defense Threat Reduction Agency in western Uzbekistan.

Land Forces

Organisation

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 hui. In 2001, the Tashkent garrison was transformed into the Tashkent Military District.
The headquarters of the military districts and their areas of responsibility are confirmed.
DistrictHeadquarters LocationNotes
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 District FerghanaFergana Province, Andijan Province, Namangan Province
Tashkent Military DistrictHQ TashkentTashkent Province, Established 2001

List of Formations

Army Headquarters (Tashkent)

From August to September 1997, Uzbekistan took part in the exercises of the Central Asian Battalion in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. as part of an eight nation joint exercise which include the United States, Russia and Ukraine.
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 Royal Regiment Of Wales 1RRW 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.

Air Forces

The Uzbek air forces consist of units formerly part of the 49th Air Army of the Turkestan Military District headquartered at Tashkent. There are two remaining combat units, brigades at Karshi-Khanabad and Dzhizak.
The 60th Separate Brigade is the former 735th Bomber Aviation Regiment combined with the former 87th Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment. It has 31 Su-24s, 32 MiG-29s, and 6 Su-27s. Other recently disbanded units include the 61st Fighter Aviation Regiment at Kakaydy, which was itself a merger with the previous 115th Fighter Aviation Regiment, and the 62nd Fighter Aviation Regiment at Andijan. Regiments at both bases were disbanded in 1999. As many as 26 stored Su-17s, apparently in very bad condition, remain at Chirchiq.

List of units

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Current air force equipment

Paramilitary and militarized forces

The following institutions are uniformed and have military affiliations but are not part of the Armed Forces:
In addition to the schools mentioned, the Tashkent Medical Academy maintains its own Military Medical Faculty. Four military lyceums in Tashkent, Samarkand, Fergana, and Urgench, all of which were established in 1993, are run by the military for pre-military education. Officers of the military, national police, special forces, and Ministry of Internal Affairs attend courses at the Joint Service Officer Training Academy in the capital.

Military culture

Military oath

The Military oath is taken by conscripts as a legal basis of the beginning of their military service. The oath is administered by the commanding officer of unit while a colour guard lowers the national flag for the soldier to kiss after he/she has taken the oath. The first military oath of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan was adopted at the 10th session of the 12th convocation of the Supreme Soviet of Uzbekistan on 3 July 1992. The following is the text for the 1992 version of the oath:
With the entry of the Law "On General Military Commitment and Military Service" adopted by the Supreme Assembly in 2002, the oath was abolished and the original text was made unavailable. In April 2018, a long proposed new version of the oath was approved. The new version is as follows:

Holidays

These are the military holidays observed by all service personnel the Uzbek Armed Forces:
The armed forces maintains a number of cultural institutions that operated under the Ministry of Defense. Those institutions include the following: