Albania OOB (55)

[Marcello]

Originally Posted by Wdll

Nah, their economy was even worst in the 80-90s. And of course I doubt they had any tanks from mid-late 90's to now, at least operational.
I guess North Korea would have been in a similar place if not for the support by PRC.

I do distinctly remember an italian TV broadcast aired in 1999 focused on the albanian Army during the the Kosovo war. Several Type 59s (or T-54/55 I don't remember exactly) were showed moving around, crews were interviewed etc. It looked somewhat amateurish but the tanks were in working condition, even if probably not exactly in top notch shape. Really, with such a large fleet keeping some T-54/55/59 tanks "operational" isn't that difficult or expensive, you just need a few mechanics and cannibalization.
Apparently 170 of them have been modernized in the 2000's or are being modernized, but so far no details on the package applied.