One Country Gave Ukraine All Its Tanks And Is Now Building An Army Of Armored Vehicles

An armored vehicle army may be the best option in modern drone warfare.

Northern Macedonia is a loyal ally of Ukraine. After the full-scale Russian invasion, this small Balkan country gave us all of its tanks and all of its Su-25 attack aircraft. However, this was not done thoughtlessly: Macedonia is building a new type of army that relies on operational flexibility rather than heavy equipment.

According to the military analytical portal Defense Express, the Macedonian army will be organized around armored vehicles supported by drones. With a limited budget, Macedonia plans to cooperate with the UK, the US, Montenegro and Slovenia - all of which are NATO allies.

In particular, the Macedonian armed forces plan to buy more JLTV 4x4 armored vehicles and Stryker 8x8 wheeled armored personnel carriers, which will be reinforced with a different set of unmanned systems. Short-range air defense will be provided by Mistral man-portable surface-to-air missile systems and medium-range air defense systems.

Macedonia's approach to building up its weapons forces shows why handing over all of its 31 T-72 tanks to Ukraine was not an irreparable loss for the country, military analysts say.

- Forming a mechanized force around wheeled mobile platforms with drones sounds like a modern army trying to maximize its small budget for the greatest effectiveness in modern warfare," Defense Express writes.

North Macedonia's military budget now stands at $388.3 million, of which a third will go toward the purchase of weapons and equipment. So we are talking about a rather limited financial resource, which the country has to allocate judiciously.

- In general, we see that even with small financial resources it is possible to adapt to the realities of today. This can be a valuable lesson for Ukraine, which does not have the best economy and has to prioritize," the analysts added.

It should be noted that Ukraine and North Macedonia have a long history of mutual military support, which dates back a quarter of a century.

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