Colombia Military - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Military Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Militares de Colombia): National Army (Ejercito Nacional), Republic of Colombia Navy (Armada Republica de Colombia, ARC; includes Coast Guard), Colombian Air Force (Fuerza Aerea de Colombia, FAC); Colombian National Police (PNC; civilian force that is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense) (2022)

Military expenditures

3% of GDP (2021 est.)

3% of GDP (2020 est.)

3.1% of GDP (2019) (approximately $19.6 billion)

3.1% of GDP (2018) (approximately $18.6 billion)

3.2% of GDP (2017) (approximately $18.3 billion)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 260,000 total active troops (200,000 Army; 45,000 Navy, including about 20,000 marines; 14,000 Air Force); approximately 170,000 National Police (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the Colombian military inventory includes a wide mix of equipment from a variety of suppliers, including Canada, Europe, Israel, South Korea, and the US; Germany, Israel, and the US have been the leading suppliers of military hardware since 2010; Colombia's defense industry is active in producing air, land, and naval platforms (2022)

Military service age and obligation

18-24 years of age for compulsory (men) and voluntary (men and women) military service; conscript service obligation is 18 months; conscripted soldiers reportedly include regular soldiers (conscripts without a high school degree), drafted high school graduates (bachilleres), and rural (campesino) soldiers who serve in their home regions (2022)

note: in 2020, conscripts reportedly comprised about 50% of the Colombian military's active force with approximately 60-90,000 conscripts brought into the military annually

Military deployments

275 Egypt (MFO) (2022)

Military - note

as of 2022, the Colombian Armed Forces were primarily focused on internal security, particularly counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, and counterinsurgency operations against drug traffickers, militants from several factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN) terrorist/guerrilla organizations, and other illegal armed groups; the Colombian Government signed a peace agreement with the FARC in 2016, but some former members (known as dissidents) have returned to fighting (note - these dissident groups include the designated terrorist groups Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army or FARC-EP and Segunda Marquetalia; see Appendix T); the Colombian military resumed operations against FARC dissidents and their successor paramilitary groups in late 2019; in 2017, the Colombian Government initiated formal peace talks with the ELN, but in January 2019, the government suspended the peace talks shortly after the ELN exploded a car bomb at the National Police Academy in Bogotá and resumed counter-terrorism/counterinsurgency operations against the group; operations against the FARC dissident groups and the ELN continued into 2022, although the Colombian Government resumed talks with ELN in November 2022; the military was also focused on the security challenges posed by its neighbor, Venezuela, where instability has attracted narcotics traffickers and both the ELN and FARC dissidents, including FARC-EP and Segunda Marquetalia, operate openly

Maritime threats

the International Maritime Bureau reports the territorial waters of Colombia are a risk for armed robbery against ships; in 2021, six attacks against commercial vessels were reported, an increase over the single attack in 2020; most of these occurred in the main port of Cartagena while ships were berthed or at anchor

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