A transition to a professional force of 12,000 to15,000volunteers was planned at first, but when fighting eruptedin1991 between supporters of the central government inChisinau andsupporters of separatist regions, males between eighteenandforty years of age were mobilized, and the size ofMoldova'smilitary was temporarily expanded to meet the demands oftheTransnistrian conflict. In early 1995, the armed forcestotaledsome 11,000 volunteers, and there were plans to graduallycreatea professional army, similar to that of the United States.
At the beginning of 1994, the Moldovan army (under theMinistry of Defense) consisted of 9,800 men organized intothreemotor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and onereconnaissance/assault battalion. Its equipment consistedoffifty-six ballistic missile defenses; seventy-sevenarmoredpersonnel carriers and sixty-seven "look-alikes;" eighteen122mmand fifty-three 152mm towed artillery units; nine 120mmcombinedguns/mortars; seventy AT-4 Spigot, nineteen AT-5 Spandral,andtwenty-seven AT-6 Spiral antitank guided weapons; a 73mmSPG-9recoilless launcher, forty-five MT-12 100mm anti-tankguns; andthirty ZU-23 23mm and twelve S-60 57mm air defense guns.Moldovahas received some arms from former Soviet stocksmaintained onthe territory of the republic as well as undeterminedquantitiesof arms from Romania, particularly at the height of thefightingwith Transnistria.
In 1994 the Moldovan air force consisted of 1,300 menorganized into one fighter regiment, one helicoptersquadron, andone missile brigade. Equipment used by the air forceincludedthirty-one MiG-29 aircraft, eight Mi-8 helicopters, fivetransport aircraft (including an An-72), and twenty-fiveSA-3/-5surface-to-air missiles.
Other military forces also existed within Moldova. Inearly1994, the government of the "Dnestr Republic" had armedforces ofabout 5,000 which included the Dnestr battalion of theRepublicGuard and some 1,000 "Cossacks." As of early 1994, theRussian14th Army (about 9,200 troops) consisted of one armyheadquarters, one motor rifle division, one tankbattalion, oneartillery regiment, and one anti-aircraft brigade. Theirequipment consisted of 120 main battle tanks, 180 armoredcombatvehicles, and 130 artillery/multiple rocketlaunchers/mortars.Peacekeepers in Transnistria consisted of six airbornebattalionssupplied by Russia, three infantry battalions supplied byMoldova, and three airborne battalions supplied by the"DnestrRepublic."
Data as of June 1995