Angolan Armed Forces

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Flag of Angola Angolan Armed Forces
Forças Armadas Angolanas
guide
Commander in Chief
de jure :
President of the Republic of Angola
Commander in chief de facto : Chief of Staff Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda
Headquarters: Ministério da Defesa Nacional, Rua 17 de Setembro, Luanda
Military strength
Active soldiers: 107,500 (2020)
Conscription: Yes
Resilient population: approx. 3,041,069 (men and women, ages 16–49; 2010)
Eligibility for military service:
household
Military budget: US $ 3.063 billion (2017)
Share of gross domestic product : 2.2% (2017)
history
Founding: 1991

The Angolan armed forces ( Portuguese Forças Armadas Angolanas ; FAA for short ) are the military of the south-west African country Angola . The Angolan Army was established in 1991. The FAA's Chief of Staff since 2010 has been General Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda , a former UNITA commander . Thanks to its oil wealth, Angola has systematically upgraded the FAA. They comprise about 107,000 men (2020). Current expenditures are expected to be over $ 1.654 billion (estimated) annually with significant purchases of war equipment.

From liberation army to military force

The FAA's predecessors were the FAPLA ( Forças Armadas de Libertação de Angola ), the armed arm of the MPLA independence movement , which has been in power as a political party in the country since 1975. During an interruption in the 27-year civil war from 1975 to 2002, the FAA was founded as a non-partisan armed forces in 1991 when Angola changed from a one-party to a multi-party state. Initially, however, they were exclusively in the service of the MPLA; After the end of the civil war, they took on considerable contingents from the military of their rival and adversary UNITA, from team grades to general rank. Even the chief of staff is a former UNITA general.

structure

There are three branches of the armed forces: Army , Navy and Air Force and Air Defense Force , of which the Army is by far the largest with 120,000 soldiers. Military equipment originally came mainly from the former Soviet Union . There is now a military-technical cooperation with the People's Republic of China , which is also very heavily involved economically in Angola. In addition, however, equipment is increasingly being bought from Western countries, such as a number of smaller warships from Germany for the coast guard of the FAA Navy.

As of 2000, eighteen Su-27 fighter jets were purchased from Russia . One machine was shot down by UNITA in 2002 . Suitable aircraft are available for the various tasks of the Air Force (sea surveillance, air surveillance). This is very unusual for a country in this region that isn't even that big in terms of population. However, the availability of the military equipment is said to have fallen sharply in the meantime to around a third of the Su-27 purchased. In April 2019, the delivery of twelve Su-30 fighter jets, which had been agreed upon during a visit by the Russian Defense Minister in 2013, was completed.

The navy is negligible. Because although Angola has a long coast, only 2,500 soldiers with seven inland speedboats are ready. According to media reports, there were plans to deliver patrol boats from Germany in 2011 .

Assignments abroad

Small FAA contingents are stationed in the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . A presence during the unrest in Ivory Coast , 2010/2011, has not been officially confirmed. Angola is fundamentally interested in the FAA's involvement in African Union operations and has formed special units for this purpose.

The Angolan Army today still has around 29,000 enrolled members who remain enrolled in the ranks of the FAA and therefore receive a salary.

Overview

The FAA consists of the following armed forces and equipment:

Land force Air force Naval force
120,000 ( army ) 8000 ( Air Force ) 2500 ( marine )
460 tanks and armored cars 229 combat aircraft , transport aircraft and helicopters 7 speedboats
298 artillery pieces - -

marine

The Angolan Navy protects the approximately 1,600 km long coastline of Angola.

Web links

Commons : Armed Forces of Angola  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Ministério da Defesa Nacional, Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (pt) accessed August 21, 2011@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.minden.gov.ao  
  2. Angola Military Strength (2020) globalfirepower.com. Accessed on May 2, 2020 (en)
  3. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gm.html
  4. ^ Military expenditure by country in US $ 2001-2017. (PDF) Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) , 2018, accessed on July 8, 2019 .
  5. Military expenditure by country as percentage of gross domestic product 2001-2017. (PDF) Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2018, accessed July 8, 2019 .
  6. ANGOP: Report on the establishment of a naval academy accessed August 21, 2011 (pt)
  7. Angola Military Strength (2020) globalfirepower.com. Accessed on May 2, 2020 (en)
  8. CH Aviation: Força Aérea Nacional Angolana fleet accessed August 6, 2011 (en)
  9. Report by Rádio Ecclesia (pt)
  10. Die Welt: Merkel experienced how difficult deals with villains are called July 14, 2011
  11. Angola receives final Su-30K fighters , defenseweb.cz.za, May 20, 2019
  12. Die Welt: Violent criticism of arms deals with Angola accessed July 15, 2011
  13. Radio Ecclesia: 18 anos das Forças Armadas Angolanas accessed August 7, 2011 (pt)
  14. GlobalDefence.net ( Memento of the original from September 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed August 21, 2011  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.globaldefence.net
  15. see also the article in the English Wikipedia