We wear our spare uniforms on special occasions, to look decent. I got new boots two years ago. Then I also got the trousers, but second-hand. They were worn by a colleague who retired, and he had spare ones so they were like new. Next year I will retire and maybe someone will inherit the same trousers," a soldier of Bosnia's Armed Forces (AF BiH) told Radio Free Europe, pointing to the problem with the lack of uniforms. 

The AF BiH are in need of new uniforms after the United States stopped their long-term donations.

In the past, the American Government provided the necessary quantities of uniforms through the program “Foreign Military Financing” (FMF). The Americans also ensured the use of copyrights on the design (colours and shape of the pattern), so the soldiers in BiH wore the same or similar uniforms as some of the American soldiers. Bosnia and Herzegovina bought the rest.

The problem arose after the US Army phased out such designed uniforms.

The BiH authorities had two options. Change their own design and ask the US to secure the copyright for the new design and donate part of the uniforms depending on the goodwill of that country.

Or for Bosnia to keep the existing one or makes its own new design and buy clothes for the soldiers from the budget.

The BiH Defence Ministry requested that an additional €200 million be provided for the Armed Forces in the2022 budget for modernization, in addition to around €150 million for salaries, food and fuel.

The proposal was rejected in the BiH Presidency by the then-member Milorad Dodik, who for years has been against the increase in the military budget.

The BiH AF number around 10,000 professional soldiers. The commander-in-chief is the three-member Presidency, where all decisions must be made unanimously.

Mirko Okolic, the Deputy Minister of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina in charge of Resource Management, told Radio Free Europe that there are currently no surplus uniforms.

“Currently, we have enough uniforms, but we don't have any extra. We announced an international tender worth around 1.3 million Bosnian marks (some €670,000). The opening of bids is scheduled for the end of January. It’s very important that this tender succeeds. If it doesn't, we'll be in a difficult situation,” Okolic said.

The single largest item in the BiH budget is the expenses of the Defence Ministry. The average annual military budget was around €143 million in the last five years.

Of that amount, around €92 million are spent on salaries. The latest published report of the parliamentary military commissioner for the year 2021 shows the state of the BiH AF according to which only 11 percent of cargo and 50 percent of passenger vehicles are operational.

As for combat vehicles, armoured 50 armoured vehicles are operational, and six M60 tanks, which are also an American donation from the late 1990s and early 2000s. The average age of the mentioned vehicles is 40 years.

Three of the four helicopters donated by the USA in 2021 are operational, and BiH does not have fighter planes, drones or similar aircraft.

Since 2017, when the Defence Review document and the document on the modernization of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina were adopted, until today, only the funds secured through the internal redistribution of money in the Defence Ministry have been allocated for modernization.

The rest are equipment donations, mostly from the USA, Great Britain and Turkey, but also from China.

For example, at the end of 2021, the Americans donated four new helicopters, worth some $38.5 million.

Additionally, in the same year, they allocated $500,000 for the construction of a cyber-security centre. In July, the US also donated 21 Humvees with a total value of $26 million.

Washington announced that in 2023, it will donate advanced simulators for driving helicopters worth $12 million to Bosnia, and two new helicopters worth $23 million.