Botswana Military - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Botswana Defense Force (BDF): Ground Forces Command, Air Arm Command, Defense Logistics Command (2022)

note: both the BDF and the Botswana Police Service report to the Ministry of Defense, Justice, and Security

Military expenditures

3% of GDP (2021 est.)

3% of GDP (2020 est.)

2.8% of GDP (2019) (approximately $760 million)

2.8% of GDP (2018) (approximately $730 million)

2.9% of GDP (2017) (approximately $740 million)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 9,000 active BDF personnel (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the BDF has a mix of foreign-supplied and mostly older weapons and equipment, largely from Europe (2021)

Military service age and obligation

18 is the legal minimum age for voluntary military service for men and women; no conscription (2022)

Military - note

Bechuanaland/Botswana did not have a permanent military during colonial times, with the British colonial administrators relying instead on small, lightly armed constabularies such as the Bechuanaland Mounted Police, the Bechuanaland Border Police, and by the early 1960s, the Police Mobile Unit (PMU); after independence in 1966, Botswana militarized the PMU and gave it responsibility for the country’s defense rather than create a conventional military force; however, turmoil in neighboring countries and numerous cross-border incursions by Rhodesian and South African security forces in the 1960s and 1970s demonstrated that the PMU was inadequate for defending the country and led to the establishment of the Botswana Defense Force (BDF) in 1977; as of 2022, the BDF’s primary missions included securing territorial integrity/border security and internal duties such as disaster relief and anti-poaching

Botswana participates in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Standby Force, and in 2021-2022 contributed nearly 300 troops to the SADC’s effort to help the Mozambique Government suppress an insurgency (2022)

NOTE: The information regarding Botswana 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 Botswana 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Botswana 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.