Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr): Army (Heer), Navy (Deutsche Marine, includes naval air arm), Air Force (Luftwaffe, includes air defense), Joint Support Service (Streitkraeftebasis, SKB), Central Medical Service (Zentraler Sanitaetsdienst, ZSanDstBw), Cyber and Information Space Command (Kommando Cyber- und Informationsraum, Kdo CIR) (2021)
Swiss Armed Forces: Land Forces, Swiss Air Force (Schweizer Luftwaffe) (2021)
Military service age and obligation
17-23 years of age for male and female voluntary military service; conscription ended July 2011; service obligation 8-23 months or 12 years; women have been eligible for voluntary service in all military branches and positions since 2001 (2019)
18-30 years of age generally for male compulsory military service; 18 years of age for voluntary male and female military service; every Swiss male has to serve at least 245 days in the armed forces; conscripts receive 18 weeks of mandatory training, followed by six 19-day intermittent recalls for training during the next 10 years (2021)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP
1.56% of GDP (2020 est.)
1.36% of GDP (2019)
1.25% of GDP (2018)
1.23% of GDP (2017)
1.2% of GDP (2016)
0.7% of GDP (2019)
0.7% of GDP (2018)
0.7% of GDP (2017)
0.7% of GDP (2016)
0.7% of GDP (2015)
Military and security service personnel strengths
the German Federal Armed Forces have approximately 180,000 active duty personnel (62,000 Army; 16,000 Navy; 28,000 Air Force; 27,000 Joint Support Service; 20,000 Medical Service, 13,000 Cyber and Information Space Command; 14,000 other) (2020)
note - Germany in 2020 announced it planned to increase the size of the military to about 200,000 troops by 2024
the Swiss Armed Forces maintain a full-time professional cadre of about 4,000 personnel along with approximately 20,000 conscripts brought in annually for 18-23 weeks of training; approximately 120,000 reserve forces (2021)
Military equipment inventories and acquisitions
the German Federal Armed Forces inventory is mostly comprised of weapons systems produced domestically or jointly with other European countries and Western imports; since 2010, the US is the leading foreign supplier of armaments to Germany; Germany's defense industry is capable of manufacturing the full spectrum of air, land, and naval military weapons systems, and is one of the world's leading arms exporters (2020)
the Swiss Armed Forces inventory includes a mix of domestically-produced and imported weapons systems; the US is the leading supplier of military armaments to Switzerland since 2010; the Swiss defense industry produces a range of military land vehicles (2020)
Military deployments
approximately 500 Middle East (NATO/Counter-ISIS campaign); 130 Lebanon (UNIFIL); 500 Lithuania (NATO); 800 Mali (MINUSMA/EUTM); note - Germany is a contributing member of the EuroCorps (2021)
