Armed Forces of El Salvador

XIX century

During its formation (1820s), the armed forces of El Salvador consisted of several light cavalry detachments stationed in cities, which performed not only military but also police functions (maintaining order, collecting taxes, suppressing uprisings ...). The military training of soldiers began by General Manuel José Arce ; as a result, the first regular infantry units, separate dragoon squadrons and artillery were created in 1824-1850.

In the 1850s – 1860s, the professional officer corps was formed (almost exclusively from Creoles), with the help of the French military mission an officer school was opened ( Escuela Militar Capitan General Gerardo Barrios ), later transformed into the Military Academy.

In 1890-1894 a military hospital and a sergeant training school ( Escuela de Suboficiales ) were opened.

1900-1979

In the 1900s, a military reform was carried out, the general headquarters ( Estado Mayor ) was created, in 1911 a conscription system was formed for recruiting the army.

In 1917, on the basis of two previously existing cavalry squadrons, a cavalry regiment was established in the capital ^[2] .

In 1923, at the Washington Conference, the governments of the countries of Central America signed the “Treaty of Peace and Friendship” with the USA and the “Convention on Arms Reduction”, according to the convention, the maximum size of the army of El Salvador was set at 4.2 thousand, and for training its personnel was allowed to use foreign military advisers ^[3] .

On June 17, 1925, the majority of countries of the world signed the Geneva Protocol on the prohibition of the use of suffocating, poisonous or other similar gases and bacteriological agents in war . El Salvador signed the protocol, but did not ratify it, thereby reserving the right to develop and use such weapons ^[4] until February 28, 2008.

In 1901-1957, the Chilean military mission was engaged in the organization, training, and management of the army. Military cooperation with the United States began in the 1930s (deliveries of weapons and aircraft) and increased significantly after the end of World War II and the signing in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro of the Inter-American Treaty of Mutual Assistance .

In 1927, a batch of Browning M1903 pistols was purchased ^[5]

In the early 1930s, submachine guns came into service - the party Steyr-Solothurn S1-100 ^[6] , in 1932, 47 additional pieces were purchased. machine guns Solothurn S2-200 (chambered for 7 × 57 mm ) ^[7] .

In 1938, three Carro CV3 / 33 wedge- shoes were received from Italy, they were handed over to the national police and were in service at least until the 1950s ^[2] .

In 1944, under the Lend-Lease program from the United States, the first 8 M3A1 Stewart tanks were received ^[2] .

In 1953, the number of armed forces was 3 thousand people, consisting of 5 "territorial divisions" of incomplete staff. The combat deployment of all existing military units (15 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 artillery regiment) was provided only with the start of mobilization ^[8] .

In 1962, El Salvador, together with other Central American states, became a member of the Central American Defense Council ( CONDECA, Consejo de Defensa Centroamericana ).

In 1963, the United States transferred 156 units to El Salvador under the Military Assistance Program . carbines M1 and M2 ^[9] .

On March 25, 1968, the vicariate was created in the armed forces.

As of 1968, the armored forces of El Salvador consisted of 12 light American tanks M3A1 "Stewart" , of which only ten were on the move. In 1969, 12 Rayo (Lightning) armored personnel carriers were built on the chassis of the American M35 2.5-ton army trucks ^[10] .

Victory in the presidential elections of 1972, accompanied by numerous violations, the representative of the Conservatives Colonel Arturo Armando Molina caused a sharp political crisis and an attempted armed coup, undertaken on February 25, 1972 by a group of young officers. The fighting in the capital lasted 18 hours.

In the years 1972-1979, 81% of imported weapons were delivered from Israel: 49 aircraft — including 18 Mister fighter jets (the first jet combat aircraft among the countries of Central America) ^[11] , the Arava-201 transport aircraft ^{[12 ]} , automatic Galil , 200 pcs. submachine gun UZI and ammunition ^{[13] [14]} , equipped with napalm bombs ^[15] , artillery guns and patrol boats. In addition, in the 1970s, a certain amount of weapons and military equipment was acquired in Brazil and the Federal Republic of Germany.

In 1974, the number of armed forces was 4.5 thousand ground troops, 1 thousand served in the Air Force and 200 people. - in the Navy ^[16] .

On July 14, 1976, during the demarcation of the border line between El Salvador and Honduras, clashes began, the conflict was resolved only on July 22, 1976 ^[17] .

As of 1978, the size of the army of El Salvador was over 7 thousand troops (about 3,000 more served in other militias) ^[18] . The ground forces consisted of three infantry brigades, one cavalry squadron, one parachute company, two commando companies, one artillery brigade and one anti-aircraft division. The Air Force had 40 combat, transport and training aircraft, the Navy consisted of 130 people and four patrol boats ^[19] .

During the civil war of 1979-1992, the United States helped the ruling regime to combat the guerrilla movement, provided significant organizational, financial, material and military assistance. In mid-1979, retraining of officers of the Salvadoran army began in the US military bases in the Panama Canal zone (here they were taught methods of suppressing riots, anti-partisan tactics, handling new American military equipment). In the 1980s, army officers also underwent training at the School of the Americas (“ School of the Americas ” at the military base in Fort Gulik, USA), and police and national guardsmen at the “Inter-American Police Academy” ^[20] . In addition, in 1983–1984, up to 3,500 military and security forces under the leadership of American military advisers underwent training at the RMTC ( Regional Military Training Center ) in Puerto Castilla, in Honduras. However, in September 1984, the training was discontinued, and in June 1985, the center was closed at the request of the Honduran government, concerned about the training of troops for a country that had recently been a military adversary, while maintaining unresolved issues on border demarcation.

Additionally, the United States provided weapons and military equipment for the reorganization of government forces. Only in January 1980, the United States sent helicopters, small arms, ammunition ^[21] and armored vehicles worth $ 5 million to El Salvador, and in April 1980, according to the military assistance program, additional weapons worth $ 5.7 million ^[22] . Among the nomenclature of deliveries - 25 reconnaissance aircraft O-2 , two heavily armed aircraft supporting ground units AC-47; 16 light attack aircraft A-37B ^[23] , transport aircraft (three C-123K and twelve C-47 ) ^[24] , helicopters UH-1 Bell and Hughes 500 , 36 105-mm howitzers M102 , incendiary bombs and missiles, anti-personnel mines Claymore , phosphorus grenades, communications and radio equipment, tear gas , gas masks and bulletproof vests ^[25] .

In general, only in 1982-1991, the United States provided El Salvador with 33,274 M-16 assault rifles, 3120 40-mm grenade launchers, 267 thousand hand grenades ^[26] .

According to other sources, in 1980-1993, the United States delivered 225 units to El Salvador. Colt pistols .45 caliber , 32,374 M-16A1 assault rifles, 189 M1D sniper rifles, 1413 M203 grenade launchers , 1704 M79 grenade launchers, 1007 pcs. incendiary hand grenades M14 and 266 420 pcs. fragmentation hand grenades M67 ^[27] .

In addition, in 1981–1992, 379 recoilless M-67 guns, 791 LAW72 grenade launchers, 1142 M60 machine guns and more than 100 M60D machine guns were obtained from the USA; 50 more recoilless guns M40A1 was purchased in Spain and Israel ^[28] .

As a result, in 1981-1988, the number of armed forces of El Salvador increased from 25 thousand to 57 thousand soldiers (including the number of officer corps increased from 600 to 1600 people) ^[29] , the police forces increased from 10 thousand to 12 thousand (4,2 thousand fighters of the National Guard, up to 6 thousand employees of the city police , up to 2.4 thousand employees of the rural and customs police).

The level of training units was not the same, the most prepared and efficient were considered:

• Five airborne "rapid response" air battalions ( Los Batallones de Infantería de Reacción Inmediata ) of 600 servicemen each: Atlakatl , Ramon Belloso, Atonal, Arce and General Eusebio Bracamonte ^[30] were directly subordinate general staff.
• paratroop battalion
• 20 battalions of light infantry " El Cazador Batallones " ("hunters") of 350 soldiers, in each army brigade three such battalions were formed.
• “Long-range reconnaissance units” of combined-arms units ( Patrulla de Reconocimiento de Alcance Largo ) - one PRAL company was formed in each army brigade, another one in the air force.
• Marine Corps Battalion (BIM, “12 de Octubre” Batallon de Infanteria de Marina ) - established in 1985, in 1988 there were up to 600 soldiers. After the end of the civil war, the number of marines was reduced to 160, and then to 90 people.
• the commando unit of the Navy — created in August 1982 as a PRAL detachment of 60 people; by mid-1985 it was reorganized into a “battalion of maritime commandos” and consisted of about 330 fighters consisting of: “companies of the protection of the naval base” ( Compania de Seguridad - out of 90 people), “companies of commandos Piranha” ( Compania Pirana ), “companies of commandos Barracuda” ( Compania Barracuda ) and “groups of combat swimmers-commandos” “ Hacha ” (12 people).
• Company COPARU ( Compañía de Operaciones Antiterroristas para Areas Rurales y Urbanas - “company for conducting anti-terrorist operations in cities and rural areas”) of the National Guard.
• battalion "Ronald Reagan" in the department of Morasan .

Army and police personnel participated in numerous cases of repression against civilians (such as the massacre in the village of El Mozote ) ^[31] .

After the end of the war with Honduras in 1969, due to the arms embargo and military equipment, which operated in 1970-1979, the further acquisition of armored vehicles abroad was complicated (however, in 1975, 12 German UR-416 armored personnel carriers were procured , and later, in 1976, 12 French armored vehicles AML-90 “Panhard” ) ^[10] .

After the outbreak of the civil war, the need for government troops in armored vehicles only intensified, attempts were made to circumvent the embargo. So, in 1978-1979, under the guise of "tractors", 27 M114 armored personnel carriers (repainted and with removed armament) were procured from the Ministry of Agriculture in the USA. After shipment in El Salvador, an additional reservation was made for 23 cars and transferred to the divisions, and 4 were dismantled for spare parts ^[10] .

However, the "real" armored vehicles were still not enough, and therefore it was decided to produce armored vehicles on its own. As a result, in 1978–1985 more than 130 ^[2] were released in the country, or even about 150 armored vehicles ^[10] : several serial ones (for example, 66 Cashuat armored cars based on heavy Dodge M37B1 jeeps, 20 Astroboy armored vehicles "Based on a Ford F250 pickup truck and 14 Mazinger armored vehicles based on a 7-ton Magirus-Deutz 7-ton Jupiter truck ^[10] , as well as numerous semi-hand-made vehicles - mainly on truck chassis (" Magirus ", MAN 630, 2-ton “ Unimog ”, 2,5-ton M35, 5-ton “Ford” and “General Motors”), some more were made on the chassis of jeeps ( CJ-8 , “Cherokee Chief”, etc.) ^{[2] [10]} .

In addition, a number of armored vehicles were manufactured by private owners:

• for example, several armored vehicles were commissioned by the owner of sugar and coffee plantations Jose Acevedo. Subsequently, he brought one armored vehicle based on Jeep Wagoneer to the USA ^[32]

After the end of the civil war in 1992, demobilization began. The country's armed forces were almost halved, from 63 thousand to 32 thousand people. Since 1999, the total strength of the armed forces is about 16-17 thousand people:

• Ground forces : about 15 thousand personnel
• Air Force: 1.6 thousand personnel, 21 aircraft, 18 helicopters
• Navy: 1.1 thousand personnel, 5 patrol vessels
• Police: 12 thousand people ^[33]

On January 27, 1997, El Salvador acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty .

In 1998, 38 AIL M240 “Storm” jeeps entered service with the Salvadoran army, in 2000 their number was increased to 50 (at the same time, recoilless guns M40A1 were installed for 18 jeeps) ^[2] .

The soldiers of El Salvador took part in UN peacekeeping operations in Liberia ^[34] , Western Sahara ^[35] and Lebanon ^[36] (in these peacekeeping operations three soldiers of El Salvador were killed) ^[37] .

From 2003 to January 23, 2009, a contingent of 380 troops was in Iraq who took part in guarding the places of permanent deployment of coalition forces and escorting convoys. In total (taking into account 11 rotations of personnel), in 2003-2009, up to 3,400 military personnel passed through Iraq ^[38] , the losses amounted to 5 soldiers killed and 30 wounded ^[39] .

Army units ( Comando Zeus and Comando Sumpul ) are involved in helping the police and the border guard patrolling border areas, fighting smuggling and organized crime ^[40] .

In 2011-2014, El Salvador took part in the war in Afghanistan : in March 2011 a contingent of 22 soldiers was sent to the country, by early 2012 the number of Salvadoran contingent was increased to 24 soldiers ^[41] , as of October 8, 2012 the number of contingent was 25 soldiers, by August 1, 2013 has been reduced to 24 soldiers ^[42] . On May 20, 2014, the last 13 soldiers of El Salvador left Afghanistan ^[43] .

In March 2006, the Minister of Defense addressed Israel with a request to assist in reforming the army (including the officer development and training program for reservists) ^[44] .

In April 2006, 500 units were received from the USA. Colt M4 automatic rifles ^[45] , in 2008 - another batch of Colt M4 automatic rifles ^{[46] was} purchased.

In addition, the program "Counterterrorism Fellowship Program The US Department of Defense spent $ 90,000 on training for El Salvador troops ^[47] .

In December 2008, the Government of El Salvador signed the Convention on the Elimination of the Use of Cluster Munitions .

In 2009, the United States delivered 25 armored HMMWVs (21 M1151 and 4 M1165) to the Salvadoran army ^[2]

In 2011, under the US military assistance program, 7 speedboats were received (totaling $ 5.5 million); 37 army vehicles (31 Ford Ranger Double Cab jeeps ^[2] and 6 Ford Ranger Single Cab jeeps ^[2] ) and 47 police cars ^[48] .

• On May 7, 2011, a sample of the new Salvadoran Blindado de Combate BC7A1 armored car was first demonstrated at a military parade.
• in September 2012, the second Salvadoran Blindado VCTA1 armored car was introduced on the chassis of the Dodge Ram truck. The armament of the armored car consists of two 20-mm automatic guns Hispano-Suiza HS.404 and one machine gun M60 ^[49]

In October 2012, under the US military assistance program, three Hughes MD-500E helicopters (worth $ 9 million) were received ^[48] .

In 2013, the Government of El Salvador signed a contract to acquire ten A-37B attack aircraft in Chile. The total amount of the transaction is 8.6 million US dollars ^{[50] [51]} .

Army personnel is recruited by conscription, the draft age is 18 years, the service life is 1 year. Military spending accounts for about 1% of GDP.

• the professional holiday of the soldiers of the army of El Salvador is the “Day of the Soldier” (May 7)

• Военные расходы стран мира (в постоянных ценах 1999 года) // «Зарубежное военное обозрение», № 6 (663), 2002, стр.15-20
• Сальвадор // Радиоконтроль — Тачанка / [под общ. ed. N.V. Ogarkova ]. — М. : Военное изд-во М-ва обороны СССР , 1980. — ( Советская военная энциклопедия : [в 8 т.] ; 1976—1980, т. 7).

• Официальная страница вооружённых сил Сальвадора (исп.)
• Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (сведения о поставках вооружения и военной техники)