Armament Trends of the Western Balkan Countries for the Period 2016-2021

Abstract

The period 2016–2021 marked an important phase in the modernization of the armed and security forces of the Western Balkans. Although the region did not experience a return to large-scale conventional conflict, defense procurement accelerated in several countries, while military modernization increasingly reflected NATO integration, unresolved regional security issues, ageing Soviet/Yugoslav-era equipment, and the emergence of new technologies. This paper examines armament trends in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia between 2016 and 2021. It focuses on defense expenditure, acquisition and modernization of major weapons systems, foreign suppliers, domestic defense-industrial capacity, and the changing balance between legacy equipment and newer Western, Russian and Chinese systems. The analysis shows that the six countries followed different modernization paths. NATO members Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia increasingly oriented procurement toward interoperability with NATO forces and Western suppliers. Bosnia and Herzegovina pursued relatively modest modernization, constrained by political and financial limitations. Kosovo's transformation from a lightly armed security force toward a military-oriented organization after 2018 represented a significant institutional change, although its heavy-weapons inventory remained limited during the period. Serbia pursued the most comprehensive modernization programme in the region, combining domestic production and modernization of inherited Yugoslav systems with acquisitions from Russia, Belarus, China and Western suppliers. Overall, the period was characterized less by a uniform regional arms race than by diverging national modernization strategies within a changing Euro-Atlantic security environment.