The military-political leadership of Venezuela has adopted a strategy for the development of its armed forces up to 2030, based on the understanding that acquiring components for Russian-made weapons will not be feasible. Therefore, investments will need to be made in upgrading existing Western models of military equipment.
In other words, the Venezuelan military has realized that it will now be easier to obtain spare parts for the French-made AMX-30 tanks than for the Russian T-72s. This is discussed in a publication from the Infodefensa portal.
To elaborate, the publication states that Venezuela has established a development strategy for all branches of its armed forces, which is founded on two basic postulates: the ongoing ban on the supply of new weapons to the Venezuelan regime, and that "reliable suppliers of equipment are engaged in international military conflicts, which limits their supply capabilities."
Particularly in the second postulate, we can find a direct and unambiguous assessment that Russia and its defense industry are so "bogged down" in the full-scale war against Ukraine that they are now unable to meet the demands of their satellites, even those as loyal as Venezuela.
Therefore, against this backdrop, the Venezuelan military leadership is outlining a direction that emphasizes the need to focus on maintaining the capabilities of existing Western models of equipment and armaments.
It may sound unexpected, but the armed forces of Venezuela actually possess a "zoo" of both Russian and Western weaponry, some of which can now be classified not just as rarities, but as museum pieces for sure.
For instance, The Military Balance 2024 indicates that the Venezuelan armed forces have at their disposal 92 T-72B tanks, 81 AMX-30 tanks, 78 Scorpion-90 light tanks, and 31 AMX-13 light tanks. In terms of light armored vehicles, the Venezuelan army has 123 BMP-3, 114 BTR-80A, and nearly 80 American-made Dragoon 300 wheeled armored vehicles, along with 80 V-100/V-150 type armored vehicles.
Regarding artillery, the Venezuelan army formally has 48 "Msta-S," 13 "Nona-SVK" self-propelled guns, 24 BM-21 "Grad" rocket launchers, and 12 "Smerch" multiple rocket launchers, as well as 13 French 155mm self-propelled guns Mk F3 (on AMX-13 chassis) and 12 towed 155mm howitzers M114, 40 towed 105mm howitzers M101 and OTO Melara Mod 56, and 20 LAR-160 rocket launchers.
Even in terms of aviation, Venezuela exhibits a certain paradox – this country still officially maintains 21 Su-30MKV fighters and 18 F-16 aircraft (with an unclear actual combat readiness level).
However, the situation appears most specific in the air defense sector, as the Venezuelan air defense relies exclusively on Russian short- and medium-range missile systems – 44 S-125 "Pechora-2M" launchers, nine "Buk-M2E," and 12 S-300VM launchers.
