| Belgian Army Armée belge / Belgisch leger belgische Armee |
|
|---|---|
Coats of arms of Belgium Military Forces |
|
| 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 | General Charles-Henri Delcour |
| Manpower | |
| Military age | 18 years of age (2005) |
| Active personnel | 47,000 (ranked 76th) |
| Reserve personnel | 100,500 |
| Expenditures | |
| Budget | € 3.0 billion (FY09)[1] |
| Percent of GDP | 1.2% (FY09) |
| Related articles | |
| Ranks | Belgian military ranks |
The Belgian Armed Forces (L'armee belge) is the national military of Belgium. The Belgian Army was established after Belgium became independent in October 1830. Since that time Belgian armed forces have fought in World War I, World War II, have stood on watch in the Federal Republic of Germany during the Cold War, and have intervened several times in the Congo.
From 1885 the Force publique was established as the military garrison and police force in the Belgian Congo. In 1913, compulsory and universal military service was established in Belgium. In August 1914, the Belgian armed forces were being restructured, due to this measure and the rapid occupation of Belgium only 20% of men were mobilized and incorporated into the armed forces. Ultimately, 350000 men were incorporated into the Belgian armed forces. One third did not participate directly in combat.
Invaded by surprise by the Imperial German Army, which was approximately 600,000 men strong, the small, ill-equipped, 117,000 strong Belgian army succeeded, for ten days, to hold the German army in front of Liège. They fought between the emplaced forts in the area and with their support.[2] This strategy was based on the Napoleonic concept of fighting the advance force and preventing a portion of the enemy forces joining the main body. At the time, the authorities and the public celebrated the Franco-Belgian resistance that the Germans did not expect. Indeed, the Belgians delayed the Germans and thus allowed the French armies to resist the German attacks which became the First Battle of the Marne.
During the Second World War a number of military units operated in exile, usually under British command: these became known as the Free Belgian Forces. The ground troops of the Free Belgian Forces were drawn from three main sources during the course of the war. These were the Force Publique in the Congo, expatriate Belgians in Great Britain and Canada (which eventually formed the 1st Belgian Infantry Brigade), and after September 1944, Belgians liberated by the Allied campaign in Northwestern Europe.
The harsh lessons of World War II made collective security a priority for Belgian foreign policy. In March 1948 Belgium signed the Treaty of Brussels, and then joined NATO in 1948. However the integration of the armed forces into NATO did not begin until after the Korean War. Later Belgium contributed the I Belgian Corps to NATO's Northern Army Group. Defence expenditure grew along with the force size. As a safeguard against Belgium being invaded again, two major bases, Kitona and Kamina, were established in the Belgian Congo. They were almost viewed as a 'national redoubt,' permitting the survival and rebuilding of forces if Belgium was again invaded.[3]
Contents |
Since 2002, by a Royal Order issued by Albert II of Belgium the three independent armed forces were merged into one unified structure and organised with four components which consists of about 47,000 active troops. They are structured as follow:
The budget of €3.4 billion is divided amongst the four components as follows [4]:
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).
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 MOWAG Piranha and Dingo 2 vehicles currently bought to replace vehicles such as the Leopard 1A5BE. In addition, the air component is buying new aircraft such 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).[5][6] Finally, other controversies have arisen around the relocation of Belgium’s ‘cavalry school´.
The Belgian Land Component is the Ground Arm of the Belgian Armed Forces. It currently has 24,361 soldiers and 10,000 civilian staff.
The Belgian Land, Air, and Medical Components all use the same military ranks. The Naval Component's ranks are unique in the Belgian Armed Forces.
Its equipment consists of:
Vehicles:
The Belgian Air Component is the Air force of Belgium. It currently has 8,600 personnel. The history of the Belgian air force began in 1910 when the Minister of War, général Hellebaut, decided after his first flight to acquire « aeroplanes ». On 5 May 1911 a Farman type 1910 was delivered, followed by a second on 24 May and two other in August of the same year.
Its current aircraft are:
Fighter Aircraft:
Trainer Aircraft:
Helicopters:
Transport Aircraft:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles:
The Belgian Navy is the naval arm of the Belgian military. Belgian naval ranks are unique within the Belgian armed forces, corresponding to naval ranks worldwide.
It currently has 1,600 personnel and 20 vessels. Its current vessels are:
Frigates:
Minesweepers:
Support Vessels:
Patrol Boats:
Auxiliary Vessels:
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2005 edition".
|
|
|||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||