Benin Military - 2024

Military and security forces

Beninese Armed Forces (Forces Armees Beninoises, FAB; aka Benin Defense Forces): Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard (aka Republican Guard)

Ministry of Interior and Public Security: Republican Police (Police Republicaine, DGPR) (2023)

note: FAB is under the Ministry of Defense and is responsible for external security and supporting the DGPR in maintaining internal security, which has primary responsibility for enforcing law and maintaining order; the DGPR was formed in 2018 through a merger of police and gendarmes

Military expenditures

0.7% of GDP (2022 est.)
0.7% of GDP (2021 est.)
0.5% of GDP (2020 est.)
0.5% of GDP (2019 est.)
0.7% of GDP (2018 est.)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 12,000 active-duty troops, including about 3,000 National Guard; estimated 5,000 Republican Police (2023)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the FAB is equipped with a small mix of mostly older or secondhand French, Soviet-era, and US equipment; in recent years, France has provided it with limited amounts of newer military hardware such as armored vehicles and helicopters (2023)

Military service age and obligation

18-35 years of age for voluntary and selective compulsory military service for men and women; a higher education diploma is required; conscript service is 18 months (2023)

Military deployments

250 Mali (MINUSMA) (2023)

Military - note

a key focus for the security forces of Benin is countering infiltrations into the country by terrorist groups tied to al-Qa'ida and the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) operating just over the border from northern Benin in Burkina Faso and Niger; in May 2022, the Benin Government said it was "at war" after suffering a series of attacks from these groups; later that same year, President TALON said his government would spend more than $130 million to recruit up to 4,000 additional military personnel, modernize military equipment, and build and fortify operating bases; in addition, the FAB participates in the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) along with Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria against Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa in the general area of the Lake Chad Basin and along Nigeria's northeastern border

the FAB has a close working relationship with the Belgian armed forces; the Belgians offer military advice, training, and second-hand equipment donations, and deploy to Benin for limited military exercises (2023)