Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF): Land Forces, Air Forces, Marine Forces, Special Forces Command, Reserve Force (2021)
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
Military service age and obligation
18-25 years of age for voluntary military duty (must be single, no children); 9-year service obligation (2019)
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)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP
2.1% of GDP (2019)
1.4% of GDP (2018)
1.5% of GDP (2017)
1.6% of GDP (2016)
1.4% of GDP (2015)
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)
Military - note
the UPDF, which is constitutionally granted seats in parliament, is widely viewed as a key constituency for MUSEVENI; it has been used by MUSEVENI and the NRM to break up rallies, raid opposition offices, and surveil rival candidates; during the 2020 election cycle, senior UPDF officer said that the military would not obey a non-NRM political leader
the UPDF has conducted operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo against a Congo-based Ugandan rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US State Department in March 2021 as the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (ISIS-DRC; see the Terrorist Group Appendix); beginning in 2012, the UPDF also led regional efforts to pursue the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a small, violent group of Ugandan origin that conducted widespread attacks against civilians in much of Central Africa; the UPDF withdrew from the mission in 2017 after declaring that the LRA no longer posed a security threat
Uganda intervened in the South Sudan civil war in 2013-2016 and UPDF forces have clashed with South Sudanese forces along the border as recently as 2020
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
Military and security service personnel strengths
information varies; approximately 45-50,000 troops, including about 1,000-1,500 air and marine personnel (2021)
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)
Military equipment inventories and acquisitions
the UPDF's inventory is mostly older Russian/Soviet-era equipment with a limited mix of more modern Russian- and Western-origin arms; since 2010, the leading suppliers of arms to the UPDF are Russia and Ukraine (2020)
the TPDF inventory includes mostly Soviet-era and Chinese equipment; since 2010, China is the leading supplier of arms to the TPDF (2020)
