Alternative Cold War History 1994

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Army

Romanian People’s Army (RPA)

The Romanian Army is organized along Soviet lines but was long isolated from the Soviet Army by Nicolae Ceausescu’s hard line economic policies. Prohibited from importing equipment or even spare parts for existing equipment, Romanian industry created copies of Soviet equipment – almost uniformly of a very inferior design. The dissolution of Yugoslavia into separate states and drawing NATO forces nearly adjacent to the Romanian border was a major factor in the renewed interest of the Soviet high command in bolstering the RPA. With the change in Soviet government in 1991, an agreement was reached where former East German (DDR) equipment, which had been temporarily held under Soviet protection, was gifted to Romania in a show of support and comradeship. Many believe it was the support given to Ceausescu by Soviet agencies in routing out dissident groups which convinced him to change his policy.

The long-standing plan for the RPA was to maintain four Combined Arms Armies (CAA), each roughly Corps strength by NATO standards. Romania would not field a ‘Front’ HQ but dispatch its CAAs to support other areas. One CAA (probably 1st) would be deployed to Bulgaria and reinforce the Balkan Front while the other three would follow the Czech and Hungarian forces into Germany as part of the Western Group of Forces. It is very possible however that this overall deployment plan has changed, and it is probable that Romania will now form a FRONT HQ – perhaps called the Serbian Front. The new organization reinforced by Soviet and conceivably Hungarian forces would move to prevent NATO interference in the former Yugoslavia.

Role Type Version No Remarks
MBT T-72 254 Former DDR
T-72M 193 Former DDR
T-72M1 136 Former DDR
T-55 T-55AM 850 Romanian Conversions
TR-580 400 Romanian design
TR-85 300 Romanian design
IFV BMP-1 1133 Former DDR
MLI-84 156 Romanian derivative of BMP-1
APC MLVM 88 Romanian design for mountain troops
TAB-33 69 Romanian version of BTR-80
TAB-77 167 4x4 Version of the BTR 70 for Recon
TAB-71 1872 Romanian version of BTR-60
BTR-60 1387 1,000 Former DDR
BTR-50 1000 Mostly in storage
Recon BRDM-2 621 500 Former DDR
TABC-79 430 Romanian version of BTR-70
Arty 76mm M82 ?
120mm M1982 314 Mortar
122mm M30 204
2S1 6
M1989 42 Romanian version of a 2S1
130mm M-46 75
152 M81 329 Romanian copy of D-20
M85 111 Gun/Howitzer variant
MRL APR-40 352 Romanian version of a BM-21
BM-21 100?
M-51 50?
AT 100mm M1977 208 Romanian version of a T-12
SU-100 175 Assault guns
Malyutka 9P122 12 AT-3 Sagger B on BRDM-2
9P133 78 AT-3 Sagger C on BRDM-2
9P148 48 AT-4 Spigot on BRDM-2
AT-4 ?
AG-9 ? 73mm Recoilless Rifle on wheeled vehicle
AAA 14.5mm ZU-2 ? Twin AAMG, Romanian manufactured, several other variants
23mm ZSU-24-4
30mm M1980/88 300 Twin AAA
100mm KS-19 180 30 Batteries
SAM SA-2 S-75 98 18 Batteries
SA-3 S-125
SA-5 S-200
SA-6 2K12 40 8 Batteries
SA-8 9K33 24 4 Batteries
SA-9 CA-95 48 Romanian version
MANPAD SA-7 CA-94 297
SSMs SCUD-B 18
FROG-7 30