Military of Algeria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Military of Algeria

Branches of service
People's National Army Algerian National Navy Algerian Air Force Territorial Air Defense Force
Leadership
Headquarters:	Algiers
Commander-in-Chief:	President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Personnel
Active personnel:	127,500
Reserve personnel:	100,000
Military age population:	8,033,049 male
Total fit for service:	6,590,079 male
Military age:	19 to 30
Service law:	universal compulsory conscription
Conscript service:	18 months
Industry
Annual spending:	$2.67 billion (2006)
Percent of GDP spent on military:	3.5% (2006)
Major international suppliers:	Russia China
History
Founded:	1962
Military history of Algeria Algerian War of Independence Algerian Civil War
Ranks and insignia

The Armed forces of Algeria are comprised of:

The People's National Army (ANP)
Algerian National Navy (MRA)
Algerian Air Force (QJJ)
Territorial Air Defense Force

1 Historical background
2 Size of forces
3 Equipment and international relations
4 Army
5 Air force
6 Territorial Air Defense Force
7 See Also
8 References

[edit] Historical background

The Algerian military is the direct successor of the Armée de Libération Nationale (ALN), the armed wing of the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN), which fought French colonial occupation during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62). The top echelons of the Algerian military establishment have long played an important role in the country's political life, both through high-ranking officers holding public office, and through more indirect means of influencing policy. After being structured as a politicized "people's army" in the Houari Boumédiène era, and retaining its allegiance to the FLN during the single-party years of Algerian history, the military forces were formally depoliticized in 1988, as a multi-party system was introduced.

In 1992, military officers executed a coup d'état, aborting an Islamist electoral takeover and triggering the Algerian Civil War. The state and military side broke Islamist resistance in the late 1990s, but local and sporadic fighting persists in 2007; the army is presently engaged in refitting itself for the tasks of a conventional army, after more than a decade of anti-guerrilla action.

[edit] Size of forces

The People's National Army consists of 127,500 members, with some 100,000 reservists. The army is under the control of the president, who also is minister of National Defense (current president is Abdelaziz Bouteflika). Defense expenditures accounted for some $2.67 billion or 3.5% of GDP. One and a half years of national military service is compulsory for males.

[edit] Equipment and international relations

Algeria is with Morocco a leading military power in North Africa and has its force oriented toward its western (Morocco) and eastern (Libya) borders. Its primary military supplier has been the former Soviet Union, which has sold various types of sophisticated equipment under military trade agreements, and the People's Republic of China. Algeria has attempted, in recent years, to diversify its sources of military material. Military forces are supplemented by a 45,000-member gendarmerie or rural police force under the control of the president and 30,000-member Sûreté nationale or Metropolitan police force under the Ministry of the Interior.

Recently, the Algerian Air Force signed a deal with Russia to purchase 49 MiG-29SMT and 6 MiG-29UBT at an estimated $1.5 Billion. They also agreed to return old airplanes purchased from the Former USSR.