Libyan Army

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Libyan Army
Libyan EE-9 Cascavel on parade
Active
Country	Libya
Branch	Army
Size	50,000 regular soldiers, 43,000 militia

The current strength of the Libyan Ground Forces is 50,000 with an additional 43,000 troops as part of the Libyan Peoples Militia Paramilitary Group. The Libyan Army is organized into 10 Tank Battalions, 10 Mechanized Infantry Battalions, 18 Infantry Battalions, 6 Commando Battalions, 22 Artillery Battalions, 4 SSM Brigade and 7 Air Defense Artillery Battalions.^[1]

Though the Libyan army has a large amount of fighting equipment at its disposal, the vast majority was bought from the Soviet Union in the 70s and 80s and is largely obsolete. A high percentage remains in storage and a large amount of equipment has also been sold to various African countries.

No major purchases of equipment have been made in recent years largely due to the decline of the economy and military sanctions experienced throughout the nineties. This and various other internal factors has seriously decayed the strength of the whole of the Libyan Military over the years and it has lagged behind its major neighbors in terms of its military capabilities and real war fighting capability. It is expected however, with the resurgence of the Libyan Economy and the recent lifting of sanctions that Libya will seek to rectify this and start to replace its ageing equipment and gain some ground it has lost over the years.

From the late seventies to the mid to late eighties the army was involved in 4 major incursions into Chadian Territory. The Libyan Army suffered great losses in these conflicts especially that of the Toyota War of 1987 largely due to poor tactics and western aid to Chad. All of these incursions were eventually repulsed and Libya no longer occupies Chad. This conflict was known as the Chadian-Libyan conflict.

[edit] Current Libyan Army Equipment

^[2]

Tanks
200 T-72, (115 in store),
100 T-62, (70 in store),
500 T-55, (1000+ in store),
Tracked Vehicles
1000 BMP-1
30 M-113
200 BTR-50
Wheeled Vehicles
70 EE-9 Cascavel
100 EE-11
50 BRDM-2
500 BTR-60
67 OT-64
SP Artillery
80 DANA
210 Palmaria
130 2S1
60 2S3 Akatsiya
Multiple Rocket Launchers
600 BM-21 , RM-70,
300 Type-63
Towed Artillery
330 M-46
190 D-30
60 D-74
Surface to Surface Missiles
45 FROG-7
80 SCUD-B , ( 417 missiles)
Anti Tank
400 MILAN
620+ AT-3, AT-4, AT-5
Air Defence
48 SA-5 Gammon , Launchers
400 SA-7 Grail
20 SA-8b Gecko
55 SA-9 , SA-13
24 Crotale
20 Tor-M1, to be ordered soon
4 S-300PMU-2, systems , to be ordered soon
Anti Aircraft Artillery
90 57mm S-60
250 23mm ZSU-23-4
100 23mm ZU-23-2

[edit] References and See Also

^ Middle East Military Balance, (2005), "Libyan Military", Libya, Accessed April 24 2007
^ Middle East Military Balance, (2005), "Libyan Military", Libya, Accessed April 24 2007

Global Security Article on Libya