Military of Slovakia

Military of Slovakia Ozbrojené sily Slovenskej Republiky
Armed Forces of Slovak Republic coat-of-arms
Service branches	Ground Forces of the Slovak Republic, Slovak Air Force
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	President of the Republic Andrej Kiska
Chief of staff	Chief of the General Staff: Lieutenant General Milan Maxim
Manpower
Military age	17 years of age
Conscription	Abolished in 2006
Available for military service	1,413,079, age 15–49
Fit for military service	1,162,282, age 15–49
Reaching military age annually	ca. 25,000
Active personnel	12,542 soldiers and 3,761 civilians (2015)
Expenditures
Budget	881million € (2016)
Percent of GDP	1.11% (2016)
Industry
Foreign suppliers	Czech Republic Germany Israel Poland Russia United States

The Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic number 12,542 uniformed personnel and 3,761 civilians. Slovakia joined NATO in 29 March 2004. From 2006 the army transformed into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished.

Structure of the armed forces

• Ground forces - are made up of two active mechanized infantry brigades.
• Air and air defence forces - comprising one wing of fighters, one wing of utility helicopters, and one SAM brigade.
• Training and support forces - comprising NSE - national support element (multifunctional battalion, transport battalion, repair battalion), garrison of capital city Bratislava, as well as training battalion, and various logistics and communication and information bases.
• Miscellaneous forces under the direct command of the general staff - the 5th Special Forces Regiment

Structure of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic

Soldiers from 12th Mechanized Battalion of 1st Mechanized Brigade

Slovak military vehicles marking symbol

Slovakia's plan for defense reform is the Force 2015 Long-Term Plan, which strikes a balance between requirements and resources and which envisions a professionalized, combat-capable force of 14,500 uniformed personnel by 2013.

Air force

Slovak Air Force MiG-29AS NATO upgrade

Slovak Air Force MiG-29AS NATO upgrade

• Aircraft
  • Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum - nine (NATO upgraded)
  • Aero L-39 Albatros - eight (NATO upgraded)
  • Antonov An-26 Curl - one (NATO upgraded), to be replaced by Alenia C-27J Spartan
  • Let L-410 Turbolet - six (NATO upgraded)
  • Mil Mi-17 Hip-H - nine (NATO upgraded), to be replaced by UH-60M Black Hawks
  • UH-60M Black Hawk - nine (deliveries 2017-2019) + other 9 option
  • Alenia C-27J Spartan- two order and one option (deliveries 2017-2019)

Slovak S-300

Note -- All aircraft data is current as of 1.12.2015

• Air defence systems
  • SA-6 Gainful - five batteries
  • Almaz SA-10 Grumble - one battery
  • SA-18 Grouse

Special forces

Slovak 5th Special Forces Regiment in Afghanistan boarding an aircraft

Slovak 5th Special Forces Regiment operating in eastern Afghanistan

5th Special Forces Regiment

It is Slovakia's premier counter-terrorism and special operations unit. The unit is directly attached to the armed forces general staff, but works for the Operational Reconnaissance Bureau.

Missions

Slovakia has 159 military personnel deployed in Cyprus for UNFICYP United Nations led peace support operations. Slovakia committed to increase the number of its troops in Afghanistan to around 66 men by the end of 2014. Slovakia has 34 troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina for EUFOR Althea. Slovak troops were withdrawn from Kosovo because the Slovak Armed Forces set its priority to focus mainly on an Afghanistan NATO led mission. Since the independence of Slovakia in 1993, there have been 59 uniformed personnel deaths in the line of service to the United Nations and NATO (as of 2015).

External links

• Official homepage of the Ministry of Defence
• Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic (Slovak)
• Picture gallery
• Slovak military photos