Estonian Armed Forces: Defense Forces from Russia

The Estonian Armed Forces are officially called “Defense Forces” (Defense Forces or Kaitsevägi in Estonian), which reflects the military doctrine declared by the Republic of Estonia - protecting the integrity of the territory of Estonia and preserving its sovereignty. According to this doctrine, the Estonian Armed Forces have been formed and are functioning.

A bit of history

The mentality of the armed forces of any country is formed by previous experience and national traditions. From this we should begin the story of the Estonian army.

Estonia for a long time did not have its own statehood. In the 13th century, the Estonian tribes conquered the German crusaders and included the lands of Estonia in the Livonian Order. In the future, Estonia was the object of geopolitical interests of countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Russia. Later, a united Germany was added to this list. In the numerous conflicts of these giants, Estonians themselves took a very inactive part, earning a reputation as an extremely militant people. Estonia was a significant part of its history, and after the victories of Russia over Sweden it became the Livonia province of Russia.

The Estonian National Army, like independent Estonia itself, was created by the collapse of the Russian Empire. The formation of the state is unimaginable without the creation of an army. However, the newly formed and small army in 1918 could not resist the German troops that occupied the country after Russia withdrew from the First World War. The revolution in Germany returned the Germans to their homeland, but gave rise to the forces of the Red Army to regain control of Estonia. In the Baltic country itself, this period of history (1918-1920) is called the War of Independence, and in Russia it is considered part of the civil war. The truth, apparently, is where between these two concepts. Actually, this period was the most active and large-scale in the history of the Armed Forces of Estonia. The fighting was carried out both on the territory of the country itself (with the support of the White Guard units) and beyond. In particular, there was the participation of Estonians in the attack of General Yudenich on Petrograd, clashes with parts of Latvian Germans who wanted to establish their priority in Latvia and the Baltic states.

The fighting was very difficult for the Red Army, and the diplomatic and technical support of Western Europe, as well as the parallel resistance of the Baltic states, affected. As a result, Soviet Russia decided to make peace and recognize the independence of Estonia.

She lost it after the partition of Poland and the Baltic states between the USSR and Germany. When Soviet troops entered Estonia, the local army was virtually inactive.

The revival of the Estonian Armed Forces occurred again with the country's independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Today

The country's leadership (including the military) considers Russia the main threat to its independence. As a result, the country joined the NATO bloc.

At present, the Estonian army can be characterized as traditionally small (the size of the Estonian Armed Forces is estimated at 5,500, with a reserve of 30,000), but well-armed. By the way, more than a thousand military personnel are women (27% of the total personnel), which makes the Estonian army one of the most "female" in Europe.

The army is equipped with inexpensive, but high-quality modern weapons of Finnish, Israeli, Swedish and American production. The old Soviet weapons remaining after leaving the USSR were practically taken out of use. This was done, firstly, for ideological reasons, and secondly, under the rearmament program of the Eastern European countries of NATO. Something can be knocked out, calling himself a "shield against Russian aggression."

The structure and organization of the Estonian Armed Forces are built with the help of instructors also on NATO patterns. NATO standards apply to both weapons and equipment.

Of course, the state does not have the financial capabilities to maintain a large and high-tech army, but being actually a border country of NATO, it solves this problem at the expense of military allies. On the territory of Estonia there are constantly military units of various arms of the NATO countries.

According to experts, the Estonian Armed Forces are theoretically tough, but the lack of combat experience (the participation of individual units in NATO (Afghanistan, Iraq) and the UN is difficult to take into account), as well as strong military traditions, cast doubt on the real high combat efficiency of the Estonian army . However, the presence of the NATO military contingent is seriously changing the balance of power.

Kind of troops

Estonians did not come up with anything original. The Estonian Armed Forces are divided into ground forces, air forces and naval forces.

Phantom Air Force

The Air Force is Estonia's most ghostly military force. The republic does not have an expensive military fleet. According to open sources, all the air forces are two Czech training aircraft, two not very modern An-2 transporters, as well as four American multi-purpose helicopters.

However, at the Emari airbase, there are always up to several units of NATO air forces combat aircraft that replace each other. The question of the permanent deployment of a dozen American attack aircraft here is being decided.

Structurally, the Estonian Air Force is divided into headquarters, Emari airbase and the airborne surveillance division. In total, the Air Force has about 250 employees.

Overseas helps

The naval forces of modern Estonia are created with the active support of NATO countries. Many ships are donated from Germany, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the UK. Estonia does not have large and expensive warships such as battleships, cruisers and destroyers. However, it has a wide "assortment" of patrol boats, which are much needed by the Estonian coast guard, border ships and minesweepers , which should protect the long coast and islands of the Republic of Estonia.

The Estonian military base and location of the headquarters of the Navy is the former Soviet submarine base in Minnaya Harbor (the Estonian name is “Merevaebaas”) of Tallinn. There are also frequent guest ships from NATO countries.

Estonian military sailors - about 450 employees.

Estonian Ground Forces

This is the largest branch of the Estonian forces, which forms the basis of all armed forces.

The peculiarity of the Estonian infantry forces is the complete absence of tanks. Officially, this is explained by fundamental motives: the Estonian army has defensive functions, and the tank is an offensive thing. But there is a rich arsenal of artillery and anti-tank weapons, mainly made in Sweden. There are also self-propelled artillery mounts.

There is a decent fleet of armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles. Almost all Soviet armored personnel carriers have been decommissioned (or modernized in Estonia itself) and replaced mainly with the Finnish Patria Passi.

In small arms, the Estonian army prefers machine guns, pistols and machine guns from Israel and the United States. Soviet machine guns sent as a gift to the state armies of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Structurally, ground forces are divided:

It is also worth noting that international military exercises are often held in the region, and infantry units of foreign countries are often present in Estonia.

Main Headquarters

This is an important part of the armed forces. His functions are advising and supporting the activities of the commander of the Estonian Defense Forces (now Lieutenant General Riho Terras), planning activities, organizing army training, planning and coordinating military operations, and preparing and organizing mobilization. The main headquarters is located in Tallinn and consists of the following departments: main department, strategic communications department, personnel department, operations department, logistics department, analysis and planning, communications department and budget and finance department.

That, in fact, is all that can be learned from open sources about the Estonian Armed Forces.