Palau Military - 2024

Military and security forces

no regular military forces; the Ministry of Justice includes divisions/bureaus for public security, police functions, and maritime law enforcement (2024)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

since 2018, Australia and Japan have provided patrol boats to Palau's Division of Marine Law Enforcement (2022)

Military - note

under the Compact of Free Association (COFA) between Palau and the US, the US is responsible for the defense of Palau and the US military is granted access to the islands, but it has not stationed any military forces there; the COFA also allows citizens of Palau to serve in the US armed forces

Palau has a "shiprider" agreement with the US, which allows local maritime law enforcement officers to embark on US Coast Guard (USCG) and US Navy (USN) vessels, including to board and search vessels suspected of violating laws or regulations within Palau's designated exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or on the high seas; "shiprider" agreements also enable USCG personnel and USN vessels with embarked USCG law enforcement personnel to work with host nations to protect critical regional resources (2023)