Angola Military - 2024

Military and security forces

Angolan Armed Forces (Forcas Armadas Angolanas, FAA): Army, Navy (Marinha de Guerra Angola, MGA), Angolan National Air Force (Forca Aerea Nacional Angolana, FANA; under operational control of the Army)

Ministry of Interior: National Police, Border Guard Police (2023)

Military expenditures

1.3% of GDP (2022 est.)
1.4% of GDP (2021 est.)
1.7% of GDP (2020 est.)
1.8% of GDP (2019 est.)
2.1% of GDP (2018 est.)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 100,000 active troops (mostly Army; 5-6,000 Air Force and Navy); estimated 10,000 Rapid Reaction Police (2023)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

most Angolan military weapons and equipment are of Russian or of Soviet-era origin; in recent years, Russia has been the principal supplier of military hardware to Angola (2023)

Military service age and obligation

20-45 years of age for compulsory and 18-45 years for voluntary military service for men (registration at age 18 is mandatory); 20-45 years of age for voluntary service for women; 24-month conscript service obligation; Angolan citizenship required; the Navy is entirely staffed with volunteers (2023)

Military deployments

in 2023, Angola agreed to send 500 troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for 12 months to oversee cantonment of a rebel group known as M23 (2023)

Military - note

the Angolan Armed Forces were created in 1991 under the Bicesse Accords signed between the Angolan Government and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA); the current force is responsible for country’s external defense but also has some domestic security responsibilities, including border protection, expulsion of irregular migrants, and small-scale counterinsurgency operations against groups like the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda separatists in Cabinda; the Army and Air Force are some of the largest and better equipped forces in the region; a significant portion of the Army's core combat forces--six infantry divisions--are motorized and supported by approximately 300 Soviet-era tanks, while the Air Force has a fleet of approximately 100 combat aircraft, plus a substantial inventory of transport aircraft and helicopter gunships; while naval modernization has received more attention in recent years, the Navy remains a small force of fast attack and coastal patrol craft (2023)