Sierra Leone Military - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF): operates under a Joint Force Command with Land Forces, Maritime Forces, and an Air Wing; Ministry of Internal Affairs: Sierre Leone Police (2022)

Military expenditures

0.3% of GDP (2021 est.)

0.3% of GDP (2020 est.)

0.3% of GDP (2019 est.) (approximately $35 million)

0.3% of GDP (2018 est.) (approximately $45 million)

0.3% of GDP (2017 est.) (approximately $40 million)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 9,000 personnel, mostly ground forces (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the RSLAF has a small inventory that includes a mix of Soviet-origin and other older foreign-supplied equipment; it has received limited amounts of mostly donations and second-hand equipment since 2010 (2022)

Military service age and obligation

18-29 for voluntary military service; women are eligible to serve; no conscription (2022)

Military - note

after the end of the civil war in 2002, the military was reduced in size and restructured with British military assistance; the RSLAF’s origins lie in the Sierra Leone Battalion of the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF), a multi-regiment force formed by the British colonial office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Gold Coast (Ghana), Nigeria (Lagos and the protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria), Sierra Leone, and Gambia; the RWAFF fought in both World Wars (2022)

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