Slovenia Military - 2024

Military and security forces

Slovenian Armed Forces (Slovenska Vojska, SV): structured as a combined force with air, land, maritime, special operations, combat support, and combat service support elements

Ministry of Interior: National Police (2024)

Military expenditures

1.3% of GDP (2024 est.)
1.3% of GDP (2023 est.)
1.3% of GDP (2022)
1.2% of GDP (2021)
1% of GDP (2020)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 6,000 active-duty troops (2023)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the military's inventory is a mix of Soviet-era and smaller quantities of more modern, mostly Western equipment; in recent years, Slovenia has begun a modernization program and imported growing amounts of European and US equipment  (2023)

Military service age and obligation

18-30 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women; must be a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia; recruits sign up for 3-, 5-, or 10-year service contracts; conscription abolished in 2003 (2023)

note: as of 2023, women comprised about 16% of the military's full-time personnel

Military deployments

100 Kosovo (NATO); 100 Slovakia (NATO) (2024)

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

Military - note

the Slovenian Armed Forces (Slovenska Vojska or SV) are responsible for the defense of the country’s sovereignty and territory, deterring external threats, and contributing to European security and other international peacekeeping missions; the SV is also active in civil-military cooperation, such as the maintenance of local infrastructure; Slovenia has been a member of the EU and NATO since 2004, and one of the SV’s key missions is fulfilling the country’s commitments to NATO, including equipment modernization, participating in training exercises, and contributing to NATO missions; the SV provides troops to NATO’s efforts to enhance its presence in the Baltics (Latvia) and Eastern Europe (Slovakia); it has also participated in other international security missions with small numbers of personnel in such places as Africa, southern Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Middle East

the SV is configured as a joint force with land, naval, air, and special forces components; the SV is led by a General Staff with a joint-service Forces Command controlling the operational elements; the principal land combat units are two infantry brigades, but they may be organized as battlegroups or other response forces based on their mission; the naval component has a few patrol boats; the SV air component has no fighter aircraft, and NATO allies Hungary and Italy provide air policing for Slovenia

the SV was formally established in 1993 as a reorganization of the Slovenia Defense Force; the Defense Force, along with the Slovenian police, comprised the majority of the forces that engaged with the Yugoslav People’s Army during the 10-Day War after Slovenia declared its independence in 1991 (2023)