Chile Military - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Armed Forces of Chile (Fuerzas Armadas de Chile): Chilean Army (Ejército de Chile), Chilean Navy (Armada de Chile, includes marine units and coast guard or Maritime Territory and Merchant Marine Directorate (Directemar)), Chilean Air Force (Fuerza Aerea de Chile, FACh); Ministry of the Interior and Public Security: Carabineros de Chile (National Police Force) (2022)

note: the Carabineros de Chile are responsible to both the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior

Military expenditures

2% of GDP (2021 est.)

2% of GDP (2020)

1.9% of GDP (2019) (approximately $7.33 billion)

1.9% of GDP (2018) (approximately $7.2 billion)

2% of GDP (2017) (approximately $7.1 billion)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 70,000 active armed forces personnel (40,000 Army; 20,000 Navy; 10,000 Air Force); approximately 50,000 Carabineros (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the Chilean military inventory is comprised of a wide mix of mostly Western equipment and some domestically-produced systems; since 2010, it has received military hardware from nearly 15 countries with Germany and the US as the leading suppliers; Chile's defense industry has capabilities in military aircraft, ships, and vehicles (2022)

Military service age and obligation

18-45 years of age for voluntary male and female military service; selective compulsory service (there are usually enough volunteers to make compulsory service unnecessary); service obligation is a minimum of 12 months for Army and 22 months for Navy and Air Force (2022)

note: as of 2021, women comprised approximately 18% of the armed forces

Military - note

the Chilean Army was founded in 1810, but traces its origins back to the Army of the Kingdom of Chile, which was established by the Spanish Crown in the early 1600s; the Navy traces its origins to 1817; it was first led by a British officer and its first ships were largely crewed by American, British, and Irish sailors; by the 1880s, the Chilean Navy was one of the most powerful in the Americas, and included the world’s first protected cruiser (a ship with an armored deck to protect vital machine spaces); Chile's military aviation was inaugurated in 1913 with the creation of a military aviation school

Chile and Argentina 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 (2022)

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