The website in United States (U.S.), Global Firepower, specialized in the analysis of the military capacities of states, has published a New Year’s ranking of the strongest military forces. The Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AFBiH) are positioned far behind their neighbors, Serbia and Croatia.
On the list of 145 countries in the world, BiH is 133rd on the list and has fallen back compared to the last update when BiH was 123rd on the list. When it comes to our region, the best–ranked is Serbia, which is 58th in the world, while Croatia is in 69th place. Montenegro is in 128th place.
But if we compare the annual allocations allocated to our Armed Forces, it is no surprise that BiH’s position is so low. The budget of the AFBiH is only 280 million BAM, while the military budget of Serbia for 2022 was 2.4 billion BAM, and Croatia‘s budget was 1.96 billion BAM.
With 242 tanks, Serbia leads the way in the number of these armored vehicles, so it is even ahead of the United Kingdom (UK) and France. Serbia owns mostly M-84 tanks with some T-72B donated by Russia.
Croatia owns 75 M-84 tanks that have been modernized in accordance with NATO standards. Croatia has been planning the acquisition of German Leopard tanks for a long time, but due to a limited budget, the focus was on the acquisition of aircraft.
When it comes to the air force, Serbia is once again the leader, but Croatia will be far ahead of all the countries in the region after acquiring the French Rafale aircraft. Serbia owns 10 MiG-29 aircraft, and is the only country in the region that owns attack helicopters, the now somewhat outdated Mil Mi-35.
The AFBiH has 8 U.S.-made Bell UH-1 transport helicopters, as well as the Soviet-made Mil Mi-8, but due to the impossibility of overhaul, which was carried out in Ukraine, they are currently not in operation.
It is difficult to expect that anything will change in the future regarding the arming of the AFBiH, it is very likely that they will continue to rely on donations from Western partners, primarily the U.S. It is also a fact that the dedicated industry in our country is growing, and it remains to be seen whether in the future, especially after joining NATO, a stronger connection with the AFBiH will be realized, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
