Armament of Estonia: Arms Procurements of the Ministry of Defence in the 1990s

Abstract

An independent state must have its own army. If we don’t defend ourselves, someone else will come and defend us. The conflicts in the border areas of the collapsing Soviet Union and the Balkans in the 1990s as well as the unstable situation in Estonia and neighbouring countries underlined the need for the quick establishment of Estonia’s own army. At the time the state’s independence was restored, there were no people in Estonia who knew Western weaponry or how to carry out weapons procurements. The only things left behind by the Russian army were old gas masks, helmets, fuel and lubricants, a number of buildings and a polluted environment.