Uruguay Military - 2024

Military and security forces

Armed Forces of Uruguay (Fuerzas Armadas del Uruguay): National Army (Ejercito Nacional), National Navy (Armada Nacional, includes Coast Guard (Prefectura Nacional Naval or PRENA)), Uruguayan Air Force (Fuerza Aerea)

Ministry of Interior: National Police (2024)

note: the National Police includes the paramilitary National Republican Guard (Guardia Nacional Republicana); the National Police maintains internal security, while the National Directorate for Migration is responsible for migration and border enforcement

Military expenditures

1% of GDP (2022 est.)
2.3% of GDP (2021 est.)
2% of GDP (2020 est.)
2.1% of GDP (2019 est.)
2.1% of GDP (2018 est.)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 23,000 active-duty personnel (15,000 Army; 5,000 Navy; 3,000 Air Force) (2023)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the military's inventory includes a wide variety of older or second-hand equipment; in recent years, it has imported limited amounts of military hardware from a variety of countries with Spain as the leading supplier (2023)

Military service age and obligation

18-30 years of age (18-22 years of age for Navy) for voluntary military service for men and women; up to 40 years of age for specialists; enlistment is voluntary in peacetime, but the government has the authority to conscript in emergencies (2024)

note: as of 2023, women comprised nearly 20% of the active military

Military deployments

825 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); 210 Golan Heights (UNDOF) (2023)

Military - note

the armed forces are responsible for defense of the country’s independence, national sovereignty, and territorial integrity, as well as protecting strategic resources; it has some domestic responsibilities, including perimeter security for a number of prisons and border security and providing humanitarian/disaster assistance; in 2020, the military deployed more than 1,000 troops to assist the National Police in securing the land border with Brazil and the riverine border with Argentina as part of a border control law passed in 2018; Uruguay has traditionally held security ties with Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and the US

the Army has four regionally based divisions comprised of approximately eight small brigades of infantry and mechanized cavalry; the Navy includes the Coast Guard, a naval aviation command, and a small naval infantry force; the Navy in recent years has undertaken a modest program to modernize its aging fleet, decommissioning several ships, including its only frigates, and acquiring secondhand patrol vessels from the US Coast Guard; it is also attempting to acquire larger and more modern offshore patrol vessels; the Air Force has a single squadron of light ground attack aircraft (2023)