Military of Venezuela

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Military of Venezuela
Military Manpower
Military age	18 years of age
Availability	Males age 15-49: males age 15-49: 6,236,012 (2005 est.)
Fit for military service	Males age 15-49: males age 15-49: 4,907,947 (2005 est.)
Reaching military age annually	Males: 252,396 (2005 est.)
Active troops
Military Expenditures
Amount	$1,687 million (FY04)
Percent of GDP	1.5% (FY04)

As of 2000, the national armed forces of Venezuela (FAN Fuerza Armada Nacional) comprised 87,500 individuals in four service branches--the Army, Navy (including the Marine Corps), Air Force, and the Armed Forces of Cooperation (FAC), commonly known as the National Guard.

1 Organization
2 Procurements
- 2.1 Impasse with the United States
- 2.2 Embargo
3 Military branches
4 Standard equipment
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Organization

As of 2005, about 100,000 soldiers were integrated in the military through a fifth service branch, the Armed Reserve, although some of this force is more of a militia than a formal, professional armed corps.

In 2001, a civilian was appointed Minister of Defense for the first time in many decades. His role is largely policy-oriented, and operational command remains with a uniformed services commander.

As of 2006 the FAN will be transformed into six service branches, the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard, National Reserve and the Territorial Guard. The Army, Navy, Air Force and National Guard will serve under the Strategic Operational Command (Comando Estratégico Operacional), the National Reserve and the Territorial Guard will serve under the National Reserve and Mobilization Command (Comando General de la Reserva Nacional y Movilizacion Nacional)

The Venezuelan army bears the title "Forjador de Libertades" or "Creator of Freedoms". This apparently refers to Venezuelan armies fighting Venezuela's independence war, as well as the independence wars of five other countries, namely Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Panamá (then part of New Granada, present day Colombia) and Bolivia.

The army's officer rank system is unremarkable, but the system of non-commissioned ranks is notably complicated, with eighteen non-commissioned ranks from Distinguido to Maestro Técnico Supervisor. (For comparison, there are seven NATO non-commissioned ranks (OR-3 to OR-9) and six British non-commissioned army ranks.)

[edit] Procurements

The Venezuelan government has embarked on a massive military modernization and purchases that greatly expand their defensive and offensive capabilities, including negotiations for German submarines and transport aircraft, several agreements with Russia (outlined ahead), transport aircraft and naval vessels from Spain, radars from China, home-made and designed armored light vehicles and rocket launchers, studies for Leopard 2 main battle tanks, amongst many others.

In 2005 Venezuela signed agreements with Spain to procure 12 naval transport and reconnaissance aircraft and eight naval patrol vessels. The deals have been greeted with criticism from the United States, which opposes the government of President Hugo Chávez, who claims the deal is necessary for Venezuela's defense, and criticizes the United States for failing to supply spare parts for Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets. The United States, in turn, hoped to block the deal, but since the Spanish defense industry can replicate American technology with more expensive European parts, an export license from the United States is no longer required. The deal is worth $1.5-2 billion dollars to the Spanish defense industry, as well as an estimated 900 new jobs. This has added to recent tensions between the U.S. and Spain, stemming from Spain's withdrawal of its armed forces from Iraq in the wake of Al-Qaeda threats and attacks in Madrid.^{[citation needed]}

Venezuela has also recently purchased 100,000 AK-103 assault rifles and 12 Mi-17 military helicopters from Russia.^[1] The government of Venezuela has also announced its intention to obtain about 3 dozen more Russian helicopters, including Mi-17 "Hip", Mi-26 "Halo" and Mi-35 "Hind", as well as announcing the procurement of 24 Su-30MK Interceptors with future possible purchases of Su-35 fighters. [1]

Venezuela is studying Antonov transport aircraft to revamp its aging fleet of transport craft, which includes IAI Aravas and Skytrucks, as well as Ground Attack Planes, like the Su-25 "Frogfoot".

Venezuela has announced the purchase of top-of-the-line anti-aircraft systems; while not specified, it is believed that the S-300 battery, or the TOR-M1 system. Recent development do indicate the possible purchase of up to 12 TOR-M1 systems.[2] Border defense systems are being purchased from Brazil, plus Steyr anti-riot trucks and expanded Tiuna purchases.

A co-operative research into UAV between Venezuela and Iran is also underway.[3]

In 2007, the Belarusian military optics industry will be supplying the Venezuelan army with night vision devices, and to be installed on - as Hugo Chavez described: "every single rifle in the Venezuelan army," [4]

Such purchases have marked a line of separation from the traditional US supply lines, replacing them with other nations like Russia and China, clear counter-weights to the US in global matters.

[edit] Impasse with the United States

These acquisitions and other projects are opposed by the United States, which claims that Venezuela does not need such large quantities of weaponry. The U.S. accuses Venezuela of starting an arms race, which they fear will destabilize the military equilibrium in South America. Venezuela is also accused of supplying small arms to neighboring Colombian guerrilla organizations including FARC, which is sympathetic to Chávez [5][6].

United States criticism is met with skepticism by Venezuelan authorities, who claim the weapons are needed to update the basic equipment in the armed forces. In some cases, Venezuelan armaments like the FN FAL have been in service more than 50 years. The government also claims that the US has been the one to initiate arms races and de-stabilize countries by supplying subversive groups in Latin America throughout the past century (referring to the Cold War and the contra affair, among numerous other incidents).

In the 1990s Venezuela requested a batch of F-16C/Ds to update its F-16 fighter fleet, but the U.S. government blocked the request. [7] In October 1997 the US government approved the sale of the two crash replacement F-16s, but subsequently halted the sale. [8] In 2005 a contract with Israel Aircraft Industries to upgrade Venezuela's F-16s was frozen following U.S. pressure. [9] Chavez subsequently accused the U.S. of delaying the sale of spare parts to maintain Venezuela’s F-16s. After remarks by Chavez that he would sell or lend the 'unused' F-16's to any country that wanted them, including Iran [10] the US Government agreed to supply the spare parts; however, the shipment was detained at the Customs Office in Maiquetia International Airport due to security concerns.[11]

[edit] Embargo

The government of the United States announced an embargo of military material and equipments to Venezuela; no US made weapons or technology can be sold to Venezuela by any country or company [12]. This embargo has harmed several Venezuelan purchases, as not only are US technology goods unavailable, but other nations friendly to the US have chosen to block sales of arms to Venezuela, as well. This is also considered one of the reasons Venezuela has turned to Russia and China for arms, in a move reminiscent of the Cold War. Below is a list of acquisitions frustrated directly or indirectly by the US embargo:

L-159 Jets from Czech Republic: the Czech government forbid Aero Vodochy, the manufacturer, from creating a variant with French avionics and Ukranian engines, specially requested by Venezuela. [13]
Saab AB, a Swedish arms company announced it would honor the US embargo, and would not sell arms to Venezuela. Carl Gustav recoilless rifles, AT4 AT weapons, as well as RBS-70 AA systems are in service in the Venezuelan military. [14]
Spanish company EADS CASA halted the sale of several transport planes that contained extensive US technology. [15]
Brazil was forced to cancel the sale of Embraer Super Tucano airplanes to the Venezuelan Air Force. [16]
Embraer was also forced to cancel the sale of AEW&C equipped planes. [17]
France decided to block the sale of Scorpene submarines to Venezuela. [18]
Russian companies Rosoboronoexport and Sukhoi have been sanctioned by the US government for procuring arms for Venezuela. [19]

[edit] Military branches

National Armed Forces (Fuerza Armada Nacional or FAN) includes:

Ground Forces or Army (Fuerzas Terrestres or Ejercito)
Naval Forces (Fuerzas Navales or Armada)
Venezuela Air Force (Fuerzas Aereas or Aviacion)
Armed Forces of Cooperation or National Guard (Fuerzas Armadas de Cooperacion or Guardia Nacional)
National Reserve (Reserva Nacional)
Territorial Guard (Guardia Territorial)

[edit] Standard equipment

An average soldier will have a FN FAL and a Glock 17 as a sidearm and the crew service will carry a FN MAG instead of the FAL, Although the FAL's are now being remplaced by the AK-103 in just about any branch.
A frontier soldier will have a Glock 18 and a Mossberg 500 or instead a IMI Uzi.