Argentina Military - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic (Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina): Argentine Army (Ejercito Argentino, EA), Navy of the Argentine Republic (Armada Republica, ARA; includes naval aviation and naval infantry), Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Argentina, FAA); Ministry of Security: Gendarmería Nacional Argentina (National Gendarmerie), Coast Guard (Prefectura Naval)  (2022)

Military expenditures

0.8% of GDP (2021 est.)

0.8% of GDP (2020)

0.7% of GDP (2019) (approximately $5 billion)

0.8% of GDP (2018) (approximately $5.3 billion)

0.9% of GDP (2017) (approximately $5.95 billion)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 82,000 active duty personnel (50,000 Army; 18,000 Navy, including about 3,500 marines); 14,000 Air Force); estimated 20,000 Gendarmerie (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the inventory of Argentina's armed forces is a mix of domestically-produced and mostly older imported weapons, largely from Europe and the US; since 2010, France and the US are the leading suppliers of equipment; Argentina has an indigenous defense industry that produces air, land, and sea systems (2022)

Military service age and obligation

18-24 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women; conscription suspended in 1995; citizens can still be drafted in times of crisis, national emergency, or war, or if the Defense Ministry is unable to fill all vacancies to keep the military functional (2022)

note - as of 2021, women comprised over 21% of the active duty military

Military deployments

250 Cyprus (UNFICYP) (May 2022)

Military - note

the Army and Navy were both created in 1810 during the Argentine War of Independence, while the Air Force was established in 1945; the military coups d'état in 1930, 1943, 1955, 1962, 1966, and 1976; the 1976 coup, aka the "National Reorganization Process," marked the beginning of the so-called "Dirty War," a period of state-sponsored terrorism that saw the deaths or disappearances of thousands of Argentinians; the defeat in the 1983 Falklands War led to the downfall of the military junta

Argentina and Chile have a joint peacekeeping force known as the Combined Southern Cross Peacekeeping Force (FPC), designed to be made available to the UN; the FPC is made up of two battalions, one from each country, a command and service company, an air component (a squadron of Argentine and Chilean helicopters), a naval component, and a combined logistics support unit

Argentina has Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) status with the US; MNNA is a designation under US law that provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation; while MNNA status provides military and economic privileges, it does not entail any security commitments (2022)

NOTE: The information regarding Argentina on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Argentina 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Argentina 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.