Romanian Armed Forces

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Romanian Armed Forces
Forțele Armate Române (
Industria Aeronautica Romana, Aerostar, Romaero
Foreign suppliersCurrent:
 Austria
 France
 Germany
 Israel
 Italy
 Netherlands
 Norway
 Poland
 Portugal
 South Korea
 Spain
 Switzerland
 Turkey
 United Kingdom
 United States
Former:
 Soviet Union
 China
 Czechoslovakia
 North Korea
Annual exports€187,000,000 (2018)[7]
Related articles
HistoryMilitary history of Romania
RanksRomanian Armed Forces ranks and insignia

The Romanian Armed Forces (

Lieutenant General Gheorghiță Vlad who is managed by the Minister of National Defence while the president
is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces during wartime.

As of 2023, the Armed Forces number 81,300 active personnel and 55,000 reserves. The Land Forces have a reported strength of 35,500, the Air Force 11,700, the Naval Forces 6,800, and Joint Forces 17,500, in 2023.

EU missions, and contributions to regional and global stability and security.[8]

Military service is voluntary in peacetime (since 2007), and compulsory in case of curfew, war, or national emergency.[10][11][12][13]

History of the Romanian Armed Forces

Main article: List of wars involving Romania
See also: Moldavian military forces and Wallachian military forces

The modern armies of Moldavia and Wallachia were formed in 1830 following

1848 Wallachian Revolution, Gheorghe Magheru assembled an army at Râureni (now part of Râmnicu Vâlcea). However, Magheru ordered his troops to disband when the Ottoman forces swept into Bucharest to stop the revolution.[15]

Romanian War of Independence

Further information: Romanian War of Independence
Romanian troops returning to Bucharest after the Independence War, 8 October 1878

The current Romanian Land Forces were formed in 1860, immediately after the unification of

Nikolai Konstantinovich, Grand Duke of Russia[17] the Romanian army joined the Russian forces, and led by King Carol I, fought in what was to become the Romanian War of Independence. They participated in the Siege of Plevna and several other battles. The Romanians won the war, but suffered about 27,000 casualties. Until World War I, the Romanian army didn't face any other serious actions, although it participated in the Second Balkan War against Bulgaria
.

Second Balkan War

Further information: Second Balkan War

Romania mobilized its army on 5 July 1913, with intention of seizing Southern Dobruja, and declared war on Bulgaria on 10 July.[18] In a diplomatic circular that said, "Romania does not intend either to subjugate the polity nor defeat the army of Bulgaria", the Romanian government endeavoured to allay international concerns about its motives and about increased bloodshed.[18] According to Richard Hall, "the entrance of Romania into the conflict made the Bulgarian situation untenable and the Romanian thrust across the Danube was the decisive military act of the Second Balkan War."[19]

World War I

Main article:
Romanian Campaign (World War I)
Marshal Alexandru Averescu

On July 6, 1916, Romania declared war on

Russian Revolution, Romania was left isolated and unable to continue the war, and was forced to sign the Treaty of Bucharest with the Central Powers.[21] Later on, in 1919, Germany agreed, in the Treaty of Versailles Article 259, to renounce all the benefits provided to it by the Treaty of Bucharest in 1918. After the successful offensive on the Thessaloniki front, which put Bulgaria out of the war, Romania re-entered the war on November 10, 1918, a day before its end in the West.[22]

World War II

Main article:
Romania during World War II
Romanian infantry in 1943

After General (later Marshal) Ion Antonescu took power in September 1940, Romania signed the

Operation Blue
.

The greatest disaster for the Romanian expeditionary force on the

Third Army (deployed north of Stalingrad) and of the Fourth Army (deployed south of Stalingrad) were attacked by vastly superior Soviet
forces and suffered combined losses of some 158,000 personnel.

During April–May 1944 the Romanian forces led by General

Prague Offensive
of May 1945.

Highlights (Axis)

Cold War

After the

Cluj), Eastern (Bacău), and South (Bucharest
).

In 1980 the Romanian Land Forces was reorganized in 4 Army Commands: 1st (Bucharest), 2nd (

Buzau), 3rd (Craiova) and 4th (Cluj-Napoca
). In the four Army Commands were 8 Mechanized Divisions, 2 Tank Divisions and 1 Tank Brigade, as well as 4 Mountain Brigades (specialized motorized infantry units).

In 1989 the RLF had, as armored equipment, a total of 2715 combat vehicles: 945 outdated (soviet WW-2 type)

TR-77-580, 535 Romanian built TR-85-800 and 30 Soviet T-72
"Ural-1" tanks.

Post-1990

The People's Army was dissolved after the

Romanian Revolution in the beginning of 1990 and was rebranded as the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 1994, Romania has been actively participating in the Partnership for Peace program and on 29 March 2004, it officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, Romania placed its territory and airspace at disposal for NATO troop and even sent troops to the Kosovo Force contingent in the summer of 1999 to stabilize the situation in Kosovo and Metohija. On 15 November 2002, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine created a multinational engineering battalion called "Tisa" , which includes an engineering company from the armed forces.[33] Romania has taken part in the War in Afghanistan since July 2002, with Romanian contingent being increased from 962 to more than 1,500 troops in 2009.[34][35] The armed forces also took part in the War in Iraq
from 2003 to August 2009, in which the losses of the Romanian contingent amounted to 3 soldiers killed and at least 11 wounded.

Structure

The civil oversight of the Romanian Armed Forces is the prerogative of the Ministry of National Defence (Ministerul Apărării Naționale), a department of the Romanian government. The highest professional military body of command and control is the General Staff of Defence (Statul Major al Apărării).

Ministry of National Defence (Ministerul Apărării Naționale), Bucharest[36]

Main departments under the direct command of the minister of national defence:

  • Department for Defence Policy, Planning and International Relations
    • Institute for Political Studies on Defence and Military History
  • Department for Parliament Liaison and Personnel Welfare
  • Defence Intelligence General Directorate
  • General Secretariat
  • Armament General Directorate
    • Military Equipment and Technologies Research Agency
  • Human Resources Management General Directorate
  • Control and inspection corps
  • Finance General Directorate
  • Juridical General Directorate
  • Internal Audit Directorate
  • Domain and Infrastructure Division
  • Information and Public Relations Directorate
  • Directorate for the Prevention and Investigation of Corruption and Fraud
  • General Staff of Defence (Statul Major al Apărării), Bucharest
    • Land Forces Staff
    • Air Force Staff
    • Naval Forces Staff
    • Medical Directorate
    • "Carol I" National Defence University
    • Military Technical Academy
  • Structures under the direct command of the minister of national defence:
    • Directorate of Military Courts
    • Military State Pension Fund
    • The National Office for Heroes' Memory
    • Military Sports Club - Steaua Bucuresti
  • Other structures:
    • National Defence College
    • Regional Department for Studies on the Management of Defence Resources
    • NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU)

General Staff of Defence

General Staff of Defence (Statul Major al Apărării)

  • Leadership:[37]
    • Chief of the General Staff of Defence (Șeful Statului Major al Apărării)
    • Deputy Chief of the General Staff of Defence (Locțiitor al șefului Statului Major al Apărării)
    • Deputy Chief for Resources of the General Staff of Defence (Locțiitor pentru resurse al șefului Statului Major al Apărării)
    • Director of the General Staff of Defence (Director al Statului Major al Apărării)
    • Command NCO of the General Staff of Defence (Subofițerul de comandă al Statului Major al Apărării)
  • Directorates:[38]
    • Personnel and Mobilisation Directorate (Direcția personal și mobilizare)
    • Operations Directorate (Direcția operații)
    • Logistics Directorate (Direcția logistică)
    • Strategic Planning Directorate (Direcția planificare strategică)
    • Communications and Information Technology Directorate (Direcția comunicații și tehnologia informației)
    • Training and Doctrine Directorate (Direcția instruire și doctrină)
    • Infrastructure and Equipment Planning Directorate (Direcția structuri și planificarea înzestrării)
    • Medical Directorate (Direcția medicală)
  • Service branches:[39]
  • Commands:[40]
    • National Military Command Center (Centrul Național Militar de Comandă)
    • Cyber-Defence Command (Comandamentul Apărării Cibernetice)
    • Communications and Information Command (Comandamentul Comunicațiilor și Informaticii)
    • Joint Forces Command (Comandamentul Forțelor Întrunite)
    • Special Operations Forces Command (Comandamentul Forțelor pentru Operații Speciale)
    • Joint Logistics Command (Comandamentul Logistic Întrunit)
  • Delegations:[41]
    • Romanian Military Delegation to NATO and the EU (Reprezentanța militară a României la NATO și UE)
    • National Liaison Delegation at the Allied Command Transformation (Reprezentanța Națională de Legătură la Comandamentul Aliat pentru Transformare), Norfolk, US
    • Delegation of the General Staff for Defence at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (Reprezentanța SMAp la Comandamentul suprem al forțelor aliate din Europa (SHAPE)), Mons, Belgium
  • Other organisations:[42]
    • Military Technical Academy "Ferdinand I" (Academia Tehnică Militară "Ferdinand I")
    • National Defence University "Carol I" (Universitatea Națională de Apărare "Carol I")
    • Defence Geospatial Information Agency (Agenția de Informații Geospațiale a Apărării)
    • Romanian National Military Archive (Arhivele Militare Naționale Romane)
    • National Military Museum "King Ferdinand" (Muzeul Militar Național "Regele Ferdinand")
    • National Cataloguisation Bureau (Biroul Național de Codificare)

Equipment

Main article: List of equipment of the Romanian Armed Forces
LAROM multiple rocket launchers
F-16
multi-role fighter at Fetești Air Base in October 2016.

The Land Forces have overhauled their equipment in recent years, and are today a modern

C-27J Spartan tactical airlift aircraft, in order to replace the bulk of the old transport force. Two modernized ex-Royal Navy Type 22 frigates were acquired by the Naval Forces in 2004 and a further four modern missile corvettes will be commissioned in the next few years. Three domestically produced IAR 330 Puma NAVAL helicopters were also ordered by the Naval Forces, and were commissioned in late 2008. In 2021, Romania
had in total 943 tanks, 1500+ armored vehicles, 808 towed artillery and 240 rocket projectors.

Manpower

Main article: Romania in NATO
Romanian soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan

Romania joined NATO in 2004. As a consequence, extensive preparations were made to abolish conscription by 2007 and create a professional army in place of a conscripted one.

The new armed forces include 81,300 active personnel and 55,000 reserves. Some 35,500 make up the Romanian Land Forces, 11,700 serve as the Romanian Air Force and 6,800 are in the Romanian Naval Forces; the remaining 17,500 serve in other fields.[8]

Future

Soldiers of the 2nd Mountain Brigade inspect an ammo crate during exercise Combined Resolve VII on 3 September 2016

The Romanian Military will essentially undergo a three-stage restructuring. As of 2017, the first two stages have been completed. 2015 marked the end of the second stage when the armed forces reached a superior compatibility with NATO forces.[44] In 2025, the long-term stage is to be completed. The stages aim at modernizing the structure of the armed forces, reducing the personnel as well as acquiring newer and more improved technology that is compatible with NATO standards.[44]

The military sees obsolete Soviet-era equipment as a major limitation and intends to buy modern combat equipment under the Armata 2040 project.

F-35 fifth-generation fighters is also currently underway with deliveries expected in 2032.[46]

Current deployments

As of April 2022, Romania has 429 military personnel deployed in international missions. Largest deployments being: 203 troops in

EUFOR Althea, 101 troops in Poland as part of NATO Enhanced Forward Presence and 54 troops in Kosovo as part of KFOR.[4]

Other militarized institutions

Bastille Day Military Parade
in Paris.

The following Romanian institutions have military status but are not part of the Armed Forces:

See also

Citations

  1. ^ "Șeful Statului Major al Apărării". defense.ro.
  2. ^ "Romania Ends Conscription". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 8 April 2008.
  3. ^ a b International Institute for Strategic Studies 2023, p. 126.
  4. ^ a b "Situația cu efectivele Armatei României participante la misiuni internaționale". SMAp.
  5. ^ https://www.romania-insider.com/romania-defence-budget-2024#:~:text=The%20Romanian%20government%20will%20ensure,still%20below%202.5%25%20of%20GDP.
  6. ^ https://www.romania-insider.com/romania-defence-budget-2024#:~:text=The%20Romanian%20government%20will%20ensure,still%20below%202.5%25%20of%20GDP.
  7. ^ [1] Archived 2015-01-18 at the Wayback Machine Gandul, 13 January 2015.
  8. ^ a b c d International Institute for Strategic Studies 2023, pp. 140–141.
  9. ^ "Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014-2023)" (PDF). NATO. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  10. ^ "Country report and updates". War Resisters' International. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Romania Ends Conscription". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 8 April 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  12. ^ "End to National Service Cheers Young Romanians". iwpr.net. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  13. ^ "LEGE 446 30/11/2006 - Portal Legislativ". legislatie.just.ro. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  14. ^ Șomâcu, Cornel (23 April 2015). "Înființarea armatei pământene în zorii secolului al XIX-lea" (in Romanian).
  15. ^ (in Romanian) Liviu Maior, 1848–1849. Români și unguri în revoluție (Romanians and Hungarians in the revolution), Bucharest, Editura Enciclopedică, 1998.
  16. ^ "Repere istorice". mapn.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  17. Jiu and Corabia
    , the demonstration is absolutely necessary to facilitate my movements.)
  18. ^ a b Hall (2000), p. 117.
  19. ^ Hall (2000), pp. 117–18.
  20. ^ Vincent Esposito, Atlas of American Wars, Vol 2, text for map 40
  21. ^ John Keegan, World War I, pg. 308.
  22. ^ World War I Documents, Articles 248-263 Archived 2007-12-10 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on February 28, 2008.
  23. ^ Leo Niehorster, Army Group Antonescu, 22 June 1941 Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 2011
  24. ^ Constantiniu, Florin, O istorie sinceră a poporului român ("An Honest History of the Romanian People"), Ed. Univers Enciclopedic, București, 1997,
    ISBN 973-9243-07-X
    .
  25. ^ a b c d Spencer C. Tucker, ABC-CLIO, Sep 6, 2016, World War II: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection, p. 1422
  26. ^ Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, p. 58
  27. ^ Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, pp. 127-128
  28. ^ Samuel W. Mitcham, Stackpole Books, 2007, The German Defeat in the East, 1944-45, p. 163
  29. ^ Joseph Rothschild, University of Washington Press, May 1, 2017, East Central Europe between the Two World Wars, p. 317
  30. ^ David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House, University Press of Kansas, Jul 13, 2019, Stalingrad, p. 351
  31. ^ Steven J. Zaloga, Bloomsbury Publishing, Apr 20, 2013, Tanks of Hitler’s Eastern Allies 1941–45, p. 31
  32. ^ Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, pp. 153 and 221
  33. ^ Румыния полностью вывела свои войска из Ирака // REGNUM.RU от 21 августа 2009
  34. ^ Румыния // "Зарубежное военное обозрение", № 9 (798), сентябрь 2013. стр. 91
  35. ^ Tony Perry. Romania shows its support for the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan // "Los Angeles Times" от 19 августа 2010
  36. ^ "Central structures under the direct command of the minister of national defence". Ministry of National Defence.
  37. ^ "Conducere". Statul Major al Apărării.
  38. ^ "Direcții". Statul Major al Apărării.
  39. ^ "Categorii de forțe". Statul Major al Apărării.
  40. ^ "Comandamente". Statul Major al Apărării.
  41. ^ "Reprezentanțe". Statul Major al Apărării.
  42. ^ "Alte structuri". Statul Major al Apărării.
  43. ^ Adamowski, Jaroslaw (8 August 2017). "Romania to Award Armored Vehicles Deal to Germany's Rheinmetall".
  44. ^ a b Ministry of National Defence, Strategia de transformare a Armatei României ("Strategy for the transformation of the Romanian Army") Archived 2008-02-16 at the Wayback Machine
  45. ^ https://sg.mapn.ro/proiecte/Strategia%20militara%20a%20Romaniei%201.pdf
  46. ^ "The Bucharest Parliament approved the procedure for the purchase of 32 F-35 aircraft". romanianbusinessjournal.ro. 24 October 2023.

References

Further reading

External links

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