Luepolan Defence Forces

Luepolan Defence Forces
Sile Obráňe Ľupolske
Founded	1818
Current form	1954
Service branches	Luepolan Army Luepolan Navy Luepolan Air Force
Headquarters	Prishek
Leadership
President	Savo Grigorević
Minister of Defence	Gavril Durević
High Marshal	Edvard Kraľ
Personnel
Conscription	TBD
Active personnel	48,000
Reserve personnel	331,000
Expenditure
Budget	$24.32 billion (2023)
Percent of GDP	2.1%
Industry
Domestic suppliers	Voitz Heavy Industries Rostva Naval Beľan-Matulić
Foreign suppliers	Vierzland Lyskysten

The Luepolan Defence Forces (Luepolan: Sile Obráňe Ľupolske; SOĽ), formerly known as the Luepolan Armed Forces (Luepolan: Vojsko Ľupolsko; VĽ), are the military forces responsible for the defense of Luepola. It is comprised of the Luepolan Army, Luepolan Navy and Luepolan Air Force; prior to 1982, it also included the Luepolan Home Guard. The military is nominally presided over by the Minister of Defence; in practice, it is largely subordinated to the General Staff of the Vierz Reichswehr; roughly two-thirds of Luepolan Army brigades are integrated within Reichswehr divisions.

The Luepolan Defence Forces trace their lineage to the peasant armies of Varadna-Strentland; the various militaries of Luepola have fought in many of the wars in Erisia from this period onwards. Since its formal reconstitution in 1989, the military has been primarily concerned with homeland defense as well as international peacekeeping missions under CECA and !UN mandates.

History

The Luepolan Defence Force was constituted in its current form in 1954 by mandate of the Sliet, in conjunction with official sanction by the Vierz government and military. President Christian Dobrovitch referred to the formation of the Defence Forces as "an important step forward in the restoration of Luepolan nationhood in the modern age of peace and prosperity among brotherly nations." The reconstruction of a Luepolan military was almost entirely guided by Vierzland; military structure and doctrine was thus nearly mirrored from the Reichswehr, with very little doctrine retained from the preceding Luepolan People's Army. However, lower-ranking officers from the People's Army were consulted during the reconstruction process.

The Luepolan Defence Force was active during the events of the March Uprising in 1979; in particular, the Army's refusal to crack down on protests and riots, and their occasional engagement of Luepolan Home Guard and police units, precipitated Zdrávko Kasun's fall from power. The Defence Force subsequently engaged the Vierz army in the Luepolan War; it prevented the rapid capture of critical infrastructure by Vierz Airborne forces during the first days of the war, but was gradually degraded over the following years by the Reichswehr.

Following the war, the Defence Forces were effectively put in stasis rather than disbanded outright as the People's Army was. Over the course of Vierz military governance of Luepola in the 1980s, Defence Force personnel were gradually vetted or replaced, and the Defence Force as a whole reconstituted into a smaller organization. The reconstituted Defence Force was subject to intense supervision by the Reichswehr, a policy which was discontinued in 1994. The new Defence Force operated as part of Reichswehr forces in the Invasion of Sulekh in 1989.

In 2004, the 24th Infantry Brigade of the Luepolan Army was integrated into the [unit TBD] of the Reichswehr, modeled after the integration of Defence Force units during the Sulekh campaign. The Defence Force would eventually integrate two-thirds of its combat-capable brigades into the Vierz military structure by 2018.

Organization

Main article: Structure of the Luepolan Defence Forces

Equipment

Main article: List of equipment of the Luepolan Defence Forces