Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Military of Austria

In 1955, Austria has declared her Everlasting Neutrality, and has made neutrality a constitutional law. The main purpose of the Austrian military was the protection of Austria's neutrality.

With the end of the Cold War, Austrian military has also increasingly been used to safeguard Austrian borders against illegal immigrants.

Austria's support of the US-led coalition in the 1991 Gulf War, as well as Austria's entry into the European Union in 1995 are seen as a weakening of Austria's neutrality, and possibly first steps to joining a (future) European military alliance.

Recently Austria spend considerable amounts of money for an update of her military arsenals. Leopard 2 main battle tanks, ULAN and Pandur infantry fighting vehicles, C-130 Hercules transport planes, UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters, and Eurofighter Typhoon multi-role combat aircraft have been (or are beeing) purchased. ---

Military branches:

Military manpower - military age: Military manpower - availability: Military manpower - fit for military service: Military manpower - reaching military age annually: Military expenditures - dollar figure: Military expenditures - percent of GDP:

Reference

Much of the material in this article comes from the
CIA World Factbook 2000.

See also : Austria