Antigua and Barbuda Military - 2024

Military and security forces

Antigua and Barbuda Defense Force (ABDF): Antigua and Barbuda Regiment, Air Wing, Coast Guard

Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda (2024)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 250 active military personnel (2024)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the ABDF's equipment inventory is limited to small arms, light weapons, and soft-skin vehicles; the Coast Guard maintains ex-US patrol vessels and some smaller boats (2024)

Military service age and obligation

18-23 years of age for voluntary military service for both men and women; no conscription (2023)

Military - note

the ABDF’s responsibilities include providing for internal security and support to the police in maintaining law and order, interdicting narcotics smuggling, responding to natural disasters, and monitoring the country’s territorial waters and maritime resources; established in 1981 from colonial forces originally created in 1897, it is one of the world’s smallest militaries

the country has been a member of the Caribbean Regional Security System (RSS) since its creation in 1982; RSS signatories (Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) agreed to prepare contingency plans and assist one another, on request, in national emergencies, prevention of smuggling, search and rescue, immigration control, fishery protection, customs and excise control, maritime policing duties, protection of off-shore installations, pollution control, national and other disasters, and threats to national security (2023)