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The military of the Netherlands is composed of four branches, all of which carry the prefix Koninklijke (Royal):
Conscription in the Netherlands was suspended in 1996. All military specialities, except the Submarine service and the Marine Corps, are open to women. The Korps Commandotroepen, the Special Operations Force of the Netherlands Army, is open to women, but because of the extremely high physical demands for initial training, it is found impossible for women to become a commando. The Dutch Ministry of Defence employs 68,000 personnel, including both civilian and military personnel.
Within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, there are small local armed forces on the islands of Aruba (Arumil) and Curaçao (Antmil). These operate under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Navy and Marines.
[edit] Budget rise
The budget for the military in 2007 was €7.7 billion. Several political parties have suggested raising the military expenditure so that it is closer to the NATO standard for military expenditures, which is 2.0% of the GDP. For 2008 there is a budget increase of around €500 million, bringing the budget in 2008 to €8.2 billion. With the agreement to stay in Afghanistan until 2010, another €850 million will be added to the budget over the next years, to compete with the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan. The Budget for 2009 is now around €8.5 billion.
[edit] Contemporary campaigns
Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16s have been deployed on operations over Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan
Since the 1990s, the Dutch army has been involved in four major military campaigns:
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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Nederlandse Strijdkrachten (Military of the Netherlands) |
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This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2006 edition".
