Tanzania People's Defense Forces (TPDF or Jeshi la Wananchi la Tanzania, JWTZ): Land Forces, Naval Forces, Air Force, National Building Army (Jeshi la Kujenga Taifa, JKT), People's Militia (Reserves); Ministry of Home Affairs paramilitary forces: Police Field Force (2021)
note: the National Building Army is a paramilitary organization under the Defense Forces that provides six months of military and vocational training to individuals as part of their two years of public service; after completion of training, some graduates join the regular Defense Forces while the remainder become part of the People's (or Citizen's) Militia
National Defense Forces (Forces de Defense Nationale, FDN): Army (includes maritime wing, air wing), National Police (Police Nationale du Burundi) (2020)
Military service age and obligation
18-25 years of age for voluntary military service; 6-year commitment (2-year contracts afterwards); selective conscription for 2 years of public service (2021)
18 years of age for voluntary military service; the armed forces law of 31 December 2004 did not specify a minimum age for enlistment, but the government claimed that no one younger than 18 was being recruited (2019)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP
1.3% of GDP (2019)
1.3% of GDP (2018)
1.1% of GDP (2017)
1.1% of GDP (2016)
1.1% of GDP (2015)
1.8% of GDP (2019)
1.9% of GDP (2018)
1.8% of GDP (2017)
2.2% of GDP (2016)
2.1% of GDP (2015)
Military - note
as of late 2020, the TPDF had deployed additional troops to its border with Mozambique to prevent a spillover of the growing violence in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado
in addition to its foreign deployments, the FDN is focused on internal security missions, particularly against rebel groups opposed to the regime such as National Forces of Liberation (FNL), the Resistance for the Rule of Law-Tabara (aka RED Tabara), and Popular Forces of Burundi (FPB or FOREBU); the groups are based in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and have carried out sporadic attacks in Burundi (2020)
Military and security service personnel strengths
the Tanzania People's Defense Forces (TPDF) have an estimated 26,000 active personnel (22,000 Land Forces; 1,000 Naval Forces; 3,000 Air Force) (2020)
the National Defense Forces (FDN) have approximately 25,000 active duty troops, the majority of which are ground forces (2020)
Military equipment inventories and acquisitions
the TPDF inventory includes mostly Soviet-era and Chinese equipment; since 2010, China is the leading supplier of arms to the TPDF (2020)
the FDN is armed mostly with weapons from Russia and the former Soviet Union, with some Western equipment, largely from France; since 2010, the FDN has received small amounts of mostly second-hand equipment from China, South Africa, and the US (2020)
Military deployments
450 Central African Republic (MINUSCA); 775 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); 120 Lebanon (UNIFIL); 330 Sudan (UNAMID) (Jan 2021)
750 Central African Republic (MINUSCA); 5,400 Somalia (AMISOM) (Feb 2021)
