How is Albania being strengthened militarily?
Analysis by Kreshnik KUÇAJ/DATAROOM
The Armed Forces of Albania are organized into Land, Sea and Air Forces. The objective is that by 2033, the Armed Forces of Albania will reach full operational capacities and be interoperable with NATO and the EU.
The increase in global tensions since 2014 has caused NATO to change its strategy, setting as an objective that member countries invest at least 2% of their GDP for defense.
But how much is Albania investing?
In fact, for the second year in a row, Albania is meeting the criterion of investing 2% of GDP for defense. The objective is to reach a level of 2.8% of GDP by 2033, as foreseen in the Long-Term Plan for the Development of the Armed Forces 2023-2033. If we analyze NATO's official data, it turns out that not all countries have reached this level of spending.
And in the list of countries that have not yet reached this objective are Portugal, Spain, Italy, etc.
It remains to be seen how the situation will change with the presidency of Donald Trump, who has made his position clear that the contribution to NATO of its member countries should have a different proportionality.
More specifically, during the year 2025, the defense budget is 52.7 billion ALL. With an increase of 4.5 billion lek more than in the current year.
According to the figures, most of next year's defense budget will be spent on combat forces and combat support. Civil emergencies also play an important role.
Meanwhile, the military will benefit in 2025 from a financial treatment, at levels that practically become the highest paid military in the region and come significantly closer to the salaries offered in other NATO member countries. The highest increases benefit the air force.
Meanwhile, a series of military investments are planned. In total there are 62 infrastructure investment projects and 8 new facilities. 21 are ongoing projects while 8 are new projects.
But investment in military technology is expected to be in focus. Albania is getting ready to invest significantly in the field of defense during the next 3 years. One of the most important planned investments is undoubtedly the construction of the infrastructure for the GBSD SHORAD air defense system.
The latter is a ground-based air defense system designed to defend against short-range air threats such as drones, helicopters, low-flying aircraft and cruise missiles. The installation of this system is planned to be done at Gjadri airport starting from 2027.
In the list of planned investments for strengthening Albania's defense system, there is also the investment in the MOD 5 IFF military transponder. The latter is an electronic system used by air, ground and naval forces to identify friends and foes. It provides secure communication between aircraft, ships and defense systems to avoid friendly fire. This investment is expected to start in 2026.
In the list of investments is also the completion of ILS TACAN systems, which are radars used to monitor atmospheric conditions and help in flight planning.
Ground-to-air communication systems are expected to be installed for Kuçova and Gjadri. Also, Albania plans to purchase multi-role FiX Air Tractors in 2026. The use of Air Tractors by Albania will increase not only the capabilities for air monitoring and military operations, but also for dealing with emergencies.
Albania's military investments will continue with the completion of the Black Hawk UH 60 and the MOD 5 IFF military transponder. The latter is an electronic system used by air, ground and naval forces to identify friends and foes. It provides secure communication between aircraft, ships and defense systems to avoid friendly fire.
As for investments in the naval forces, one of the most strategic projects that will be financed is the new port in Porto Romano, where, in addition to the commercial port, the infrastructure for the NATO naval base will also be established. Apart from this investment, Albania also plans to buy a combat patrol ship, with complete combat systems until the moment it sets up the military industry of their production in Pashaliman.
Since these projects are costly, Albania plans to become part of the American program for financing schemes. Defense Minister Pirro Vengu revealed for the first time on the DATAROOM show on SCAN that negotiations are underway with the Pentagon to apply the same scheme to Albania as with Poland, accessing soft loans to invest in firepower and air defense of the country.
But what is the current situation of military personnel and what are Albania's projections?
One of the most important indicators is the per capita expenditure. According to "Defense Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014-2024)", Albania in 2023 spent 94 dollars per capita on defense and in 2024 the expenses increased to 114 dollars per capita. According to this report, it turns out that Albania is at the top of the list of NATO countries that in percentage (not in value) has the fastest "exceeding" of expenditures per capita from 2023 to 2024.
But the figures given by NATO are actually even higher, if we take into account that the NATO data are not "calibrated" with the data of the 2023 Census, which gives us the opportunity to derive this indicator more accurately. . If we take into account the fact that 2.4 million people live in Albania, then the per capita spending figure would change significantly. So, calculating that defense expenses are for 2.4 million inhabitants, then it turns out that in 2023 defense expenses per capita were $160, while in 2024 this figure reached $215 per capita. And in this way, in percentage (not in value) Albania can be ranked in first place for the rate of growth of expenditures per capita.
But which are the countries that spend the most on defense and where does Albania rank?
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