Switzerland Military - 2021

Military and security forces

Swiss Armed Forces: Land Forces, Swiss Air Force (Schweizer Luftwaffe) (2021)

Military expenditures

0.7% of GDP (2019)

0.7% of GDP (2018)

0.7% of GDP (2017)

0.7% of GDP (2016)

0.7% of GDP (2015)

Military and security service personnel strengths

the Swiss Armed Forces maintain a full-time professional cadre of about 4,000 personnel along with approximately 20,000 conscripts brought in annually for 18-23 weeks of training; approximately 120,000 reserve forces (2021)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the Swiss Armed Forces inventory includes a mix of domestically-produced and imported weapons systems; the US is the leading supplier of military armaments to Switzerland since 2010; the Swiss defense industry produces a range of military land vehicles (2020)

Military deployments

165 Kosovo (NATO/KFOR) (2021)

Military service age and obligation

18-30 years of age generally for male compulsory military service; 18 years of age for voluntary male and female military service; every Swiss male has to serve at least 245 days in the armed forces; conscripts receive 18 weeks of mandatory training, followed by six 19-day intermittent recalls for training during the next 10 years (2021)