Albania requested a Defense Assessment from the United States in coordination with NATO (Allied Command Transformation) and NATO Headquarter Tirana, early in 2006 in order to ensure that previous reform efforts were proceeding well and to provide for course corrections if needed. Conclusions of this work encouraged both Ministry of Defence and General Staff of AAF to continue refining force structure and reducing the size of the Armed Forces by reducing staffs and removing obsolete units making the resultant force more capable and affordable.
A major element of this restructure process was the development of a Joint Forces Command. This streamlined the command and the control of operational units, by contributing more effectively to NATO led Peace Support Operations.
The Albanian Land Forces used to field more than 721 Type 59 Main Battle Tanks and 130 M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers. Most of the Cold War-era equipment from the Soviet Union and China has been retired or put in storage, some has been scrapped or sold off. With the new structure, the Albanian Armed Forces does not keep any main battle tanks on active duty although there are some in reserve. Anti-tank weaponry, also combined with Helicopter capability will be the priority.
Albania is now a member of NATO[2] and procedures for the acquisition of a new APC in order to achieve the standards required for troop training are underway to achieve the necessary compatibility with NATO equipment standards.
16,000 + active personnel and 35,000 reserves:.[4]
On 2010 the Joint Forces Command authorized personnel strength will be approximately 8,200. (With the new structure, the 5 Reserve Brigades have been deactivated)
