Armed Forces of the World

Niccffcgucl
' 979 Nicaragua fell to the Sandinista Natonal
'1

-beration Front after about a year of bloody cvil

,.'ar. Since then the army has been built up with
luban and Soviet help to become the largest in
lentral Amerrca; Ntcaragua has thus come to be
':garded by the t-tS administration as the prrmary
.^ -:at to stability
rn the region. The Americans there,
',': sJpport a number of guerrilla forces whose aim
: .: :\'erthrow the Sandinistas, and who are collec-
.: . ca led the 'Contras'. These guerrilla bands
: :: -.:e across the borders from both Honduras and
,:. -: Blca.
-^e Nrcaraguan army numbers more than 60,000
j- r coror ses the lollowing units:
: ^e motorized infantry battalion,
:^ree aTmoured battalions,
-
2 infantry battalions,
.rree lrght infantry battalions,
:ne enqineer battalion,
:ne air-defence regiment (under air force control)
and
:wo field artillery regiments (with three battalions
each).
Weapons come from a number of countries, but
.re major source is now the Eastern bloc, with
:el very usually via Cuba. There are around 3,000
lrban and 1 00 Soviet advisers :n the country at any
:re time. Listed below are the army's primary types
,rd numbers of equipment.
.'mour: '1
10 T-54 and T-55 MBTs and PT-76 light
amphibroustanks; 20 BRDM-2 and2}f 17
Staghound armoured cars; 1 00 plus BTR-40, BTR-
60 and BTR-1 52 APCs
.tillery:US M1/M29 B1-mm (3.19,in), Soviet
M 1 931 I 1 941 I 1943 B}mm (3.23-in), Soviet
lvl1938/1943 120-mm 14.12-n) and lsraeli Soltam
120-mm mortars; 12 US 105-mm (4.13-in) M101
howitzers; 24M1938122-mm (4 8-in), 12 D-30
1 22-mm, 1 2 D-20'1 52-mm (6-i n) Soviet
howitzers; 30 M 1942 76-mm (3-in) Soviet field
guns; 12 BM-21 Soviet multiple rocket-launchers
. r m o u r w e a po n s : 57 -mm (2.24-in) lV 1 8, 73-
1 t i -a

mm (2 B7-in)SPG-9 and l06-mm (4 17-rn) M40A1

recoliless rif les; Soviet RPG-7 and French 6B-mm
2.68-in) SARPAC rocket-launchers
r

. ^i;-aircraft weapons. SA-7'Grail' SAMs, SA-B

'Gecko' SAMs, SA-9'Gaskin' SAMs; "14.5-mm
) 51-in) ZPI-I1214 guns, 23-mmZU-23 guns, 37-
r
- M 1939 guns. 4O-mm M 1 guns and 57-mm
-i-60 guns
--
'.., :rms. Americarr M'1 64'1 , lsraeli Galil, Soviet
- r.*7 and AKM assault nf les; lsraelt Uzi sub-
--::^ ne guns; Amelcan M60, Soviet RPD, RPK
=-: ir-46 light machine-guns; 7 62-mm
- --^., ng medrum machine-guns; Soviet DShK
-l - 'r^m" (0
5-in)and Brown ng 12.7-mm heavy
--::'-e-gUnS. mixture of older Western aircraft which mostly pre- A soldier of the Nicaraguan army mans a
date the civil war. The air force's composition is as checkpoint in the capital, Managrua. Since
^= ^a,.'y:s a sma I coastal defence force of some follows: ovetthrowing the US-backed Somoza regr,n:e -:
, --^ wrth 15 patrol craft and a single LCIV. Of
, 1979 the Sandinistas have acquired man',, o! :-:e
'= ..-.'a boats the most important are the four one fhter/g round-attack sq uadron with three
ig
trappings of a regular army but rerna jn es"-e::. -_;'

:'r: l:c.tt'c ass craft armed with 20-mm cannon a guerrilla force with very limited offensi,'e
Lockheed T-33As, three North American AT-28Ds,
capacity.
-' :- rr,achine-guns. six SlAl-Marchetti SF.260 Warriors, six Aero L-39s,
-- =a.;
'- -:
'
= = '3rce rs llm ted in stze to 1,500 men or so, and six Mil Mi-24'Hind-Ds' To support tnese ''onr- fl€ €=-:-.i -.'- , =
:oss brlity at present of acquiring high- one transport squadron with one CASA C-2'l 2, one 60,000 reservists together with 4,All ::':=' : -.- _=
. - -:-^-:^ie MiG fighters because of the threat of lAlArava. four Douglas C-47s, one Dassault- andacivirian'rilitaof aO,OOO -: -:-',- t'..'
-- - ,.' 3'e-ernptive arr strikes. The major offen- Breguet Falcon 20, and two or three Antonov An-2 security in <ey areas t.tere are o:: ::^ - . . '_
- -:::: :v s l mited to the recent acquisitlon of LOIlS 3,000 Ministry of the lnter or trccos - ,' .---=
'.'--- 'l rd-D' gLnsh,p nericopters plus one helicopter squadron with two Aerospatiale second line units are armeci io tz','J :-.=- -:'i:
'-,- - ---::.cjdual-ro e CzechAero L-39 jettrarn-a Alouette llls, two H ughes OH-6As, and two or three and usually come into contaci ,,", :^ l:-.-. _- -.
- : --. ..'.'.: a rcraft. These supplement a varied MilMi-B'Hips'. during the course of therr dui es.