Umbutfo Eswatini Defense Force

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Flag of Swaziland Umbutfo Eswatini Defense Force (UEDF)
guide
Commander in Chief : King Mswati III
Military Commander: Major General Stanley Dlamini
Headquarters: Mbabane
Military strength
Active soldiers: about 3000
Conscription: no
Resilient population: 344,038 (2010)
Eligibility for military service: 18–49 years
household
Military budget: 115 million US dollars (2011)
history
Founding: June 1979
Swaziland soldiers

The Umbutfo Eswatini Defense Force (UEDF) make up the military of the Kingdom of Swaziland with 3,000 soldiers . It is divided into an army and a small air force . Due to the country's landlocked location, Swaziland has no navy .

Commander in chief is King Mswati III. , represented by the Minister of Defense . The military is considered loyal to the king.

history

A police force was established in the British protectorate of Swaziland in 1907. The paramilitary Police Mobile Unit belonged to it. There were also two groups of traditional fighters, called Umbutfo , who served to defend the monarchy. After Swaziland gained independence in 1968, then King Sobhuza II founded the Royal Swaziland Defense Force by decree in 1973 . The traditional regiments went into it. In 1977 the armed forces were renamed Umbutfo Swaziland Defense Force . When Swaziland was renamed Eswatini in 2018, the armed forces also became the Umbutfo Eswatini Defense Force.

Tasks and finances

The main functions of the Swaziland armed forces are the maintenance of internal security and border security tasks. So far the army has not been involved in any acts of war.

In 2011, was defense budget of 115 million US dollars , about three percent of the gross national product of the country.

equipment

IAI Arava of the Swaziland Air Force

The technical inventory of the Swaziland military includes a Bombardier Global , a Cessna Skymaster , a Learjet 35 , a Piper PA-28 Cherokee , a McDonnell Douglas MD-87 and three Aérospatiale Alouette III . The Swaziland military has Namibian Were'wolf MkII .

Web links

Commons : Umbutfo Eswatini Defense Force  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Welcome Dlamini: Army to recruit more soldiers . Notification of the Times of Swaziland of 30 May 2013 www.times.co.sz (English)
  2. ^ Lunga Masuku: Sobantu gets three more years in army . Times of Swaziland news from June 16, 2013 on www.times.co.sz (English)
  3. ↑ Jeffrey Tshabalala, Cyprian Nhlengethwa, Martin Rupiya: Caught between tradition and regional warfare: The Umbutfo Swaziland Defense Force since 1968 . online at www.issafrica.org , accessed February 28, 2015