Slovakia Military - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic (Ozbrojene Sily Slovenskej Republiky): Land Forces (Slovenské Pozemné Sily), Air Forces (Slovenské Vzdušné Sily), Special Operations Forces (Sily Pre Speciálne Operácie) (2022)

Military expenditures

2% of GDP (2023 est.)

1.8% of GDP (2022 est.)

1.7% of GDP (2021)

1.9% of GDP (2020)

1.7% of GDP (2019)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 14,000 active-duty personnel (8,000 Land Forces; 4,000 Air Forces; 2,000 other, including staff, special operations, and support forces) (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the military's inventory consists mostly of Soviet-era platforms; in recent years, it has imported limited quantities of more modern equipment, particularly from Italy and the US (2022)

Military service age and obligation

18-30 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women; conscription in peacetime suspended in 2004 (2023)

note: as of 2019, women made up around 12% of the military's full-time personnel

Military deployments

240 Cyprus (UNFICYP); up to 150 Latvia (NATO) (2022)

note: in response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, some NATO countries, including Slovakia, have sent additional troops and equipment to the battlegroups deployed in NATO territory in eastern Europe

Military - note

Slovakia became a member of NATO in 2004

in 2022, Slovakia agreed to host a NATO ground force battlegroup comprised of troops from Czechia, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the US; Czechia and Poland also provide fighter aircraft for the NATO air policing mission over Slovakia (2023)

NOTE: The information regarding Slovakia on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Slovakia 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Slovakia 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.