Minister of Defense, no more AK-47 for army

11/02/2016 20:15

During the NATO Ministerial meeting in Brussels, the Minister of
Defense, Mimi Kodheli, said for Top Channel that the Albanian Armed
Forces are ready to fulfill the constitutional mission to offer security
for citizens, now even with modern equipment, based on the NATO
standards.

“We will buy NATO standard equipment, which our armed forces have never had. We have used the notorious AK-47 for all cases. Even in NATO missions we have used foreign ammunition. Now we will use ours”, Minister Kodheli said.

The government will use the revenues coming from the sale of old airplanes and helicopters, while their air fields will be used by the army.

“These airplanes were given to Albania in the 50s and 60s. They are kept in our military bases and they will only free some space. They will also bring revenues which we can use for modernizing the equipment. The airfields will be used for military purposes”, Kodheli explained.

Albania will double the soldiers in Afghanistan and is part of the NATO-EU missions in Mali for removing mines. However, Albania will not increase the number of troops in KFOR, Kosovo.

Top Channel