Latvian Army

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DannyTheDog

Active member
Hello
Im from Israel, but I was born in Latvia.
Someone can please tell me about the latvian army? tanks, aircrafts? I know that it is a standart East Europeans army, someone maybe can post pictures? pics of heir uniform?
Thanks.
 
Welcome to the forums Danny

Unfortunately Latvian Armed Forces are very small and poorly equipped.

Basic info:

Latvian Army

The Army has 2134 personnel including 305 civilians. The regular component of the Army consists of the LATBAT light infantry battalion and training centers. The reserve component consists of the National Guard and is made up of 32 light infantry battalions.
Equipment:
  • T-55
  • BRDM-2
  • Carl Gustav recoilless rifle
  • RPG-7
  • Bill ATGW
Latvian Navy

The Navy [1] has 797 personnel and consists of a combat ship flotilla in Liepāja and a coast guard flotilla in Riga.

Latvian Air Force

The Air Force has 247 personnel and operates three Mi-2s, four Mi-8s and a L-410UVP Turbolet transport airplane. The Latvian air space is also being protected by NATO.
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Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/military-of-latvia
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Venom PL said:
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I haven't seen a squad of soldiers take a photo like that since WWI. Very honorable and classy.

As for the general ground troop. They seem to be well equiped for a small military force. Luxemburg has a pretty small military force too. Beside, NATO and her allies should support Lativa if the SHTF.
 
From what I hear from guys who have trained with Latvian forces in NATO exercises, they make up for their relatively poor equipment with a heck of a lot of warrior ethos.
 
The Taliban used the T-55, too. In fact it's a good tank and I know that there are kits to upgrade the T-55. Ok he is actually not a modern tank, but for such a small Country may be there isn't the demand for another tank or perhaps there is no money to buy newer...

So long
Légionnaire
 
As far as I know they have only 3 Ex-Polish T-55 AM2 (Merida) for anti-tank training. They don't have any other tanks.

Latvian Army is based on light infantry battalions.

Latvian Air Force operates three Mi-2s, four Mi-8s and a L-410UVP Turbojet transport airplane. Its obvious that Latvian Air Force does not have the means to protect its own air space. That’s why its done by other NATO countries within The Baltic Air-Policing Mission (over the skies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). From January to March this mission was done by Polish Air Force. Now its Spanish Air Force turn.
 
Légionnaire said:
The Taliban used the T-55, too. In fact it's a good tank and I know that there are kits to upgrade the T-55. Ok he is actually not a modern tank, but for such a small Country may be there isn't the demand for another tank or perhaps there is no money to buy newer...

So long
Légionnaire
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yeah i guess your right there legionnaire.
still if i was in any country i'd want at least something that will defend the country..not something that is obsolete in modern warefare like the t-55.
 
Those are not our soldiers those are jaunsargi (new guards in direct translation) and their commanders their like scouts only military group basically youth who train in a military style but most of them go to school or universitiesl and not officially military those photos are from trip which usually involves walking long distances and camping in the wood overnight the weapons are disabled and added for reality and so it will put more strain on them during the walk the older man are unit commanders they are usually retired military and they are usually leading all the exercises. Heres a typical Latvian troop http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Latvian_G36KV.JPEG the uniform is digital and its made by prisoners for a small monetary reward so it cuts the costs it also is worn by our military police and specialo uzdevumu vieniba (special operations division )
 
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For a country only a little larger than West Virginia, their small armed forces is probably more than adequate for their purposes.

Latvia = 63,589 sq kms
WVA = 62,755 sq kms.

What counts is not, "the size of dog in the fight", but, "the size of the fight in the dog".

I am quite sure that the Latvians can punch well above their weight, where the need arises.
 
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Wow, that looks like pics from a Swedish Army manouver ca 1970.
Almost all their kit is Swedish surplus material.
And the weapon on those pics are the AK4, decommisioned in Sweden about ten years ago. (The last version to get the axe were the sniperversion the national guard used).
Basically a scoped version of the AK4 with a cheek rest on the stock.

The CG,s are pretty much gone by now as well, although they have served with honor from the first UN mission to the Congo (early 60,s) up untill present in it´s current form.
US Rangers used it for a few years there as well.

However the Bill ATM is one hell of a weapon, able to defeat any tank currently in service anywhere in the world.
Easily carried and fiered by three man Teams each missile is able to take out an MBT.
One of the first missiles designed to hit the top armor of the tank.
The number of systems are not open information, but I´d rather have that then an aging T-55 anyday.

//KJ.
 
Well we have a very good military and until couple years back it was obligatory to serve unless you were still in school or college now we have professional military but the number of troops in various sources are incorrect cause they only include basic troops and not special forces and military police which all trained and deployed my friend is an MP and hes been to iraq, we also have the only combat diver school in Baltic's , but like I said thats not our troops in those pictures we got rid of the g3's 5 or 6 years ago we only had couple before that there were m16's and ak's now all g3's are now converted to non firing props for various excercises as for camouflage we have never used this type of camouflage since 90's we had woodland and before that Russian camouflage because we were part of soviet armed forces and the Russians had some type of 2 color camouflage my father served in the armed forces for many years for soviet's I've seen various pictures you can clearly see that the uniform is different like I said these are young guards they have almost zero budget so they buy they're own clothes boots and we don't have good surplus stores so we can't really get anything good not even woodland most of the stuff is from danish storage sometimes Russian or some other country which still stores old supplies recently there has been Mil-tec production (they produce extremely cheap[ and bad copies of camouflages even digital mostly for airsoft use and those people are only non military who have good camouflage which they usually get from ebay and no0t those surplus stores)
 
Nobody contested the quality of your troops.
I am sure they are very good.

How do you reckon you have the only combatdiving school in the Baltic though?
About every nation bordering the Baltic got a combat diver, attack diver, combat swimmer school.
And that is ontop of the Mineclearance diver schools..
Hell I bet even the Russkies has set one up in Kaliningrad since the break down of the Union..
 
Baltics is Lithuania,Estonia,Latvia that's it of course Russians have one they're not that retarded. I understand i didn't make myself clear not the Baltic sea but Baltics or maybe I translated it wrong in that case sorry.
 
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Ahh, the classic red army parade through the streets..
Haven´t seen one of those for awhile.

Question: Have the Baltic states taken over the mine clearence operations outside their costs yet?
We have had our mineclearence divers there for about a decade now..
//KJ.
 
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