The Slovenian Ground Force is the primary component of

Slovenian Armed Forces The Slovenian Armed Forces or Slovenian Army (SAF; sl, Slovenska vojska; 'SV'' are the armed forces of Slovenia. Since 2003, it is organized as a fully professional standing army. The Commander-in-Chief of the SAF is the President of the R ...

History

The current Slovenian Armed Forces are descended from the Territorial Defense of the Republic of Slovenia (''Teritorialna Obramba Republike Slovenije''; ''TORS''), which was formed in 1968 as a paramilitary complement to the regular army of the former Yugoslav within the territory of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. The main objectives of TORS were to support the

Yugoslav National Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...

(JNA) and conduct guerrilla operations in the event of an

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...

. When Slovenia declared independence at the onset of the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

in 1991, the TORS and the Slovenian police comprised the majority of forces engaging the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...

during the

Ten-Day War The Ten-Day War ( sl, desetdnevna vojna), or the Slovenian War of Independence (), was a brief armed conflict that followed Slovenia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991. It was fought between the separatists of the ...

. The Slovenian Armed Forces were formally established in 1993 as a reorganization of the TORS.

Equipment

Infantry

Small arms

Artillery

Tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armoured personnel carriers

Other vehicles

Stored equipment

* 10×

9M111 Fagot The 9K111 ''Fagot'' (russian: Фагот; " bassoon") is a second-generation tube-launched semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) wire-guided anti-tank missile system of the Soviet Union for use from ground or vehicle mounts. The 9K111 ...

anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...

* 18× M2A1 105 mm towed howitzer * 8×

2S1 Gvozdika The 2S1 ''Gvozdika'' (russian: link=no, 2С1 «Гвоздика», " Carnation") is a Soviet self-propelled howitzer based on the MT-LBu multi-purpose chassis, mounting a 122 mm 2A18 howitzer. "2S1" is its GRAU designation. An alternative ...

122 mm

self-propelled howitzer Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled m ...

* 9× Roland II surface-to-air missile (2 units reportedly still in use with Cerklje ob Krki Airport air defense, rest stored with missiles demolished) * 5×

BRDM-2 The BRDM-2 (''Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina'', Боевая Разведывательная Дозорная Машина, literally "Combat Reconnaissance/Patrol Vehicle") is an amphibious armoured scout car used by states that we ...

(reportedly used by command company of 44th Armored-mechanized Battalion "Wolves") * Large quantities of M69 mortar and

M57 Mortar The Yugoslavian 60mm M57 Mortar was generally based on the design of the US 60mm M2 Mortar. Currently, the M57 Mortar is produced by the Serbian company PPT Namenska, and is still used by the 72nd Brigade for Special Operations of the Serbian Arme ...

, some used by reserve forces.

Former equipment

* 9K11 Malyutka

* 6× Strela 1M * 12× BOV 3 * 12×

ZSU-57-2 The ZSU-57-2 Ob'yekt 500 is a Soviet self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), armed with two 57 mm autocannons. 'ZSU' stands for '' Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka'' (russian: link=no, Зенитная Самоходная Установк ...

* 30× M48B1 76 mm towed

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...

* 4×

M-63 Plamen M-63 Plamen ( sr, Пламен; "flame") is a 128mm multiple rocket launcher developed in 1963 in Yugoslavia for use in the Yugoslav People's Army. Development Serbian Prof. Obrad Vučurović, mechanical engineer at the Military Technical Instit ...

Multiple rocket launcher system * 24× M53/59 Praga * 8× PT 76B * 52x BVP M-80A - Slovenia donated 35 BVP M-80As to Ukraine in June 2022, some in Pivka museum * 30x M-55S - Slovenia donated 28 M55S to Ukraine, 1 sold to Bangladesh, 1 in Pivka museum

References

{{Allied Land Command Military of Slovenia