Kuwaiti Armed Forces

Kuwaiti soldiers before the National Day military parade

The Kuwaiti forces constitute the 15,500 soldiers strong professional military of the Emirates Kuwait , which is in the armed services army , air force , navy and National Guard divided.

General

Kuwait spent almost 5.8 percent of its economic output or 6.8 billion US dollars on its armed forces in 2017. Defense spending as a share of economic output is among the highest in the world.

There is no compulsory military service . In addition to the possibility of signing up as a professional soldier , there is also the possibility of doing military service as a reservist (up to the age of 40) for one month per year. There are approximately 23,700 reservists.

army

The following are subordinate to the high command of the Kuwaiti Army , which is strong in divisions :

• three tank brigades ,
• two brigades of mechanized infantry ,
• a mechanized reconnaissance brigade ,
• an artillery brigade ,
• a pioneer brigade ,
• a reserve brigade ,
• the Amiri Guard Brigade ,
• the special unit ,
• a battalion of command forces
• the air defense command (with four FlaRak - batteries (HAWK Phase III), five FlaRak batteries (PAC-2) and six FlaRak batteries (Amoun)).

equipment

Kuwaiti M-84AB

The following equipment is available:

• Main battle tanks (150 M-84 , 218 M1-A2-Abrams ),
• 20 VBL reconnaissance tanks,
• Armored personnel carriers (76 BMP-2 , 122 BMP-3 , 254 Desert Warrior ),
• armored personnel carriers (60 M113 A2 , 40 M577 , eight Condor , 21 TM-170 , 40 Fahd , eleven TPz 1 "Fuchs" ( ABC variant )),
• Guns on self-propelled guns (54 155-mm-PLZ 45 , 37 155-mm-M109A3 , 18 155-mm-GCT , 18 155-mm-F-3 ),
• 27 300-mm 9A52 "Smerch" - multiple rocket launchers ,
• Grenade launchers and mortars (60 81-mm-M8-LR , twelve 120-mm-RT-F1 , six 107-mm-M-30 ),
• Anti-tank weapons (200 84 mm "Carl Gustav" - antitank rifles , 118 TOW-2 , of which 66 to HMMWV , eight M-901 ITV (TOW / -2) ),
• twelve 35 mm Oerlikon ,
• Anti-aircraft missiles (24 HAWK Phase III , 40 "Patriot" PAC-3 , twelve Aspide , 48 Starburst ).

The FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missile system is also used; there is no information available about the use of the FROG-7 originally procured .

Air Force

→ Main article : Kuwaiti Air Force

marine

Kuwaiti speedboat

The Kuwaiti Navy consists of 1,500 soldiers, in addition there is the Kuwaiti Coast Guard with 500 members who are subordinate to the Navy. The navy is stationed in Ras Al Qalayah.

It has eight speedboats the UM ALMARADIM (COMBAT AUNT I) PBM class, a speedboat the TNC 45 PGGF class, a speedboat the TYPE 57 FPB class and a support ship SAWAHIL class.

Coast guard

The 500-strong Kuwaiti Coast Guard maintains in Shuwaikh , Umm Al-Hainan , Al Bida bases .

The fleet includes:

• Coast Guard Boats:
  • 16 P46 PBF class
  • 4 INTTISAR (OPV 310) PBse class
  • 10 SUBAHI PB class
  • 3 AL SHAHEED PB class
  • 3 PBR class
  • 33 AL SHAALI PBF class
  • 12 MANTA PBF class
  • 6 COUGAR ENFORCER PBF class
  • 17 COUGAR PBF class
• Landing craft :
  • 2 AL TAHADDY LCU class
  • 1 L404 LCU class
  • 1 LOADMASTER Mk. 2 LCU class
• Support ships:
  • 1 SAWAHIL AGH class

National Guard

The 8,500-strong Kuwaiti National Guard is divided into three infantry battalions, a (light) armored transport battalion , a special forces battalion and a military police battalion .

It has 20 VBL , 70 Pandur tanks , 22 S-600 and eight Condor 2 .

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Country information from the Austrian Ministry of Defense
2. ↑ Home | SIPRI. Retrieved July 10, 2017 (English).