Austrian Armed Forces: Land Forces, Air Forces, Cyber Forces, Special Forces (2021)
Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic (Ozbrojene Sily Slovenskej Republiky): Land Forces (Slovenské Pozemné Sily), Air Forces (Slovenské Vzdusné Sily), Special Operations Forces (Sily Pre Speciálne Operácie) (2021)
Military service age and obligation
registration requirement at age 17, the legal minimum age for voluntary military service; 18 is the legal minimum age for compulsory military service (6 months), or optionally, alternative civil/community service (9 months); males 18 to 50 years old in the militia or inactive reserve are subject to compulsory service; in a January 2012 referendum, a majority of Austrians voted in favor of retaining the system of compulsory military service (with the option of alternative/non-military service) instead of switching to a professional army system (2015)
18-30 years of age for voluntary military service; conscription in peacetime suspended in 2004; women are eligible to serve (2019)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP
0.7% of GDP (2020 est.)
0.7% of GDP (2019)
0.7% of GDP (2018)
0.8% of GDP (2017)
0.7% of GDP (2016)
2% of GDP (2020 est.)
1.71% of GDP (2019)
1.23% of GDP (2018)
1.11% of GDP (2017)
1.12% of GDP (2016)
Military and security service personnel strengths
the Austrian Armed Forces have approximately 23,000 total active duty personnel (13,000 Land Forces; 2,500 Air Force; 7,500 other, support forces) (2021)
the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic have approximately 13,000 active duty personnel (6,000 Land Forces; 4,000 Air Forces; 3,000 other, including staff, special operations, and support forces) (2020)
Military equipment inventories and acquisitions
the Austrian military's inventory includes a mix of domestically-produced and imported weapons systems from European countries and the US; since 2010, Germany and Italy are the leading suppliers of armaments to Austria; the Austrian defense industry produces a range of equipment and partners with other countries (2020)
the inventory of the Slovakian military consists mostly of Soviet-era platforms; since 2010, it has imported limited quantities of equipment from China, Czechia, Italy, Russia, and the US (2020)
