Chad Military 2021, CIA World Factbook

Chadian National Army (Armee Nationale du Tchad, ANT): Ground Forces (l'Armee de Terre, AdT), Chadian Air Force (l'Armee de l'Air Tchadienne, AAT), General Direction of the Security Services of State Institutions (Direction Generale des Services de Securite des Institutions de l'Etat, GDSSIE); National Gendarmerie; National Nomadic Guard of Chad (GNNT) (2020)

note(s): the GDSSIE, formerly known as the Republican Guard, is the presidential guard force and considered Chad's elite military unit; the Chadian Army also includes the US-trained and equipped Special Anti-Terrorist Group (SATG)

Military expenditures

2.2% of GDP (2019 est.)

2.3% of GDP (2018)

2.2% of GDP (2017)

1.8% of GDP (2016)

2% of GDP (2015)

Military and security service personnel strengths

information varies; approximately 35,000 active personnel (30,000 Ground Forces; 300 Air Force; 5,000 General Direction of the Security Services of State Institutions); 5,000 National Gendarmerie; 3,500 National Nomadic Guard of Chad (2020)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the ANT is mostly armed with older or second-hand equipment from Belgium, France, Russia, and the former Soviet Union; since 2010, it has received equipment, including donations, from a variety of countries, including China, Italy, Ukraine, and the US (2020)

Military deployments

1,800 Mali (MINUSMA) (Jan 2021)

note(s): Chad is part of a five-nation anti-jihadist task force known as the G5 Sahel Group, set up in 2014 with Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger; Chad has committed 550 troops and 100 gendarmes to the force; in early 2020, G5 Sahel military chiefs of staff agreed to allow defense forces from each of the states to pursue terrorist fighters up to 100 km into neighboring countries; the G5 force is backed by the UN, US, and France; G5 troops periodically conduct joint operations with French forces deployed to the Sahel under Operation Barkhane; Chad hosts the headquarters of Operation Barkhane in N’Djamena

Chad has committed approximately 1,000-1,500 troops to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) against Boko Haram; national MNJTF troop contingents are deployed within their own territories, although cross‐border operations are conducted periodically; in 2019, Chad sent more than 1,000 troops to Nigeria’s Borno State to fight BH as part of the MNJTF mission

Military service age and obligation

20 is the legal minimum age for compulsory military service, with a 3-year service obligation; 18 is the legal minimum age for voluntary service; no minimum age restriction for volunteers with consent from a parent or guardian; women are subject to 1 year of compulsory military or civic service at age 21 (2019)

Military - note

the ANT is chiefly focused on counterinsurgency/counter-terrorist operations against Boko Haram (BH) and the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) in the Lake Chad Basin area (primarily the Lac Province) and countering the terrorist threat in the Sahel; in 2020, it conducted a large military operation against BH in the Lake Chad region; that same year, Chad sent troops to the tri-border area with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to combat ISWA militants (it also contributes a large force to the UN MINUSCA mission in Mali); the ANT has frequently conducted counter-insurgency operations (COIN) against internal anti-government militias and armed dissident groups

NOTE: The information regarding Chad on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Chad 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Chad 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.