Military of Belgium
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| Belgian Armed Forces Belgische Strijdkrachten Forces Armées belges |
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|---|---|
 Coats of arms of Belgium Military Forces |
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| Founded | 1830 |
| Service branches | Land Component Air Component Naval Component Medical Component |
| Leadership | |
| Commander-in-Chief | King Albert II |
| Minister of Defence | Pieter De Crem (CD&V) |
| Chief of Defence | Lieutenant General Charles-Henri Delcour |
| Manpower | |
| Military age | 18 years of age (2005) |
| Available for military service |
2,436,736 males, age 18–49 (2005 est.), 2,369,463 females, age 18–49 (2005 est.) |
| Fit for military service |
1,998,003 males, age 18–49 (2005 est.), 1,940,918 females, age 18–49 (2005 est.) |
| Reaching military age annually |
64,263 males (2005 est.), 61,402 females (2005 est.) |
| Active personnel | 47,000 (ranked 76th) |
| Reserve personnel | 100,500 |
| Expenditures | |
| Budget | € 3,4 billion (FY08) |
| Percent of GDP | 1.3% (FY05) |
| Related articles | |
| Ranks | Belgian military ranks |
The military of Belgium is the Belgian armed forces. The Belgian Armed Forces have about 47,000 active troops. They are organised into one unified structure which consists of four main components:
1. Land Component, or the Army;
2. Air Component, or the Air Force;
3. Naval Component, or the Navy,
The budget of €3.4 billion is divided amongst the four components as follows [1]:
- 63% is spent on salaries
- 25% is spent on equipment maintenance
- 12% is spent on new investments
The operational commands of the components (COMOPSLAND, COMOPSAIR, COMOPSNAV and COMOPSMED) are subordinate to the Staff Department for Operations and Training of the Ministry of Defence, which is headed by the Assistant Chief of Staff Operations and Training (ACOS Ops & Trg), and to the Chief of Defence (CHOD).
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[edit] Ranks
The Belgian Land Component, Air Component and Medical Component use the same military ranks. The Naval Component's ranks are unique in the Belgian Armed Forces.
[edit] Restructuring
Belgium, which is a member of the NATO and the EU, is currently restructuring its army to be able to faster respond to humanitarian crises or disasters occurring in the world (peacekeeping). In order to do so, the Belgian Army is currently phasing out all tracked vehicles in favour of wheeled vehicles. Examples are the new Piranha and Dingo 2 vehicles currently bought to replace vehicles such as the Leopard 1A5BE. In addition, the air component is buying new aircraft as the Airbus A400M, NHI NH90 to accompany other aircraft for humanitarian missions such as the Agusta 109 and Alouette 2/3 helicopters. The transition will be complete by 2015. Due to Belgium's often-complicated politics, restructuring has led to decisions seen by some as illogical, such as the decision to mount the (very uncommon) CMI 90 mm cannon on the Piranha 3 (munition is very scarce and only made by a handful of manufacturers; it will probably be supplied by Mécar).[2] [3] Finally, other controversies have arisen around the relocation of Belgium’s ‘cavalry school´.
[edit] See also
- Force Publique (colonial military forces)
- Free Belgian Forces (WWII military forces)
[edit] References
- ^ Het Nieuwsblad; saturday 19, sunday 20 and monday 21 july 2008
- ^ Belgian Army Restructuring controversies
- ^ 90mm cannons very uncommon within armies of the developed world
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2005 edition".
[edit] External links
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