France vs. Belgium
Military
| France | Belgium | |
|---|---|---|
| Military branches | Army (Armee de Terre; includes Foreign Legion), Navy (Marine Nationale), Air and Space Force (Armee de l'Air et de l'Espace); includes Air Defense), National Guard (Reserves), National Gendarmerie (paramilitary police force that is a branch of the Armed Forces but under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior; also has additional duties to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Justice) (2021) | Belgian Armed Forces: Land Component, Naval Component, Air Component, Medical Service (2021) |
| Military service age and obligation | 18-25 years of age for male and female voluntary military service; no conscription (abolished 2001); 1-year service obligation; women serve in noncombat posts (2019) | 18 years of age for male and female voluntary military service; conscription abolished in 1995 (2019) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.04% of GDP (2020 est.) 1.83% of GDP (2019) 1.81% of GDP (2018) 1.78% of GDP (2017) 1.79% of GDP (2016) | 1.07% of GDP (2020 est.) 0.89% of GDP (2019) 0.89% of GDP (2018) 0.88% of GDP (2017) 0.89% of GDP (2016) |
| Military - note | France was one of the original 12 countries to sign the North Atlantic Treaty (also known as the Washington Treaty), which created NATO in 1949; in 1966, President Charles DE GAULLE decided to withdraw France from NATO's integrated military structure, reflecting his desire for greater military independence, particularly vis-à-vis the US, and the refusal to integrate France's nuclear deterrent or accept any form of control over its armed forces; it did, however, sign agreements with NATO setting out procedures in the event of Soviet aggression; beginning with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, France distanced itself from the 1966 decision and has regularly contributed troops to NATO's military operations, being one of the largest troop-contributing states; in 2009 it officially announced its decision to fully participate in NATO structures | Belgium is a member of NATO and was one of the original 12 countries to sign the North Atlantic Treaty (also known as the Washington Treaty) in 1949 in 2018, the Defense Ministers of Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the creation of a Composite Special Operations Component Command (C-SOCC); the C-SOCC was declared operational in December 2020 |
| Military and security service personnel strengths | the French military has approximately 205,000 active duty troops (115,000 Army; 35,000 Navy; 40,000 Air Force; 15,000 other, such as joint staffs, medical service, etc.); approximately 100,000 National Gendarmerie; approximately 75,000 National Guard (2020) | the Belgian Armed Forces have approximately 26,000 active duty personnel (11,000 Land Component; 1,500 Navy; 5,000 Air Force; 1,500 Medical Service; 7,000 other, including joint staff, support, and training schools) (2020) |
| Military equipment inventories and acquisitions | the French military's inventory consists almost entirely of domestically-produced weapons systems, including some jointly-produced with other European countries; there is a limited mix of armaments from other Western countries, particularly the US; since 2010, the US is the leading foreign supplier of military hardware to France; France has a defense industry capable of manufacturing the full spectrum of air, land, and naval military weapons systems (2020) | the Belgian Armed Forces have a mix of weapons systems from European countries, Israel, and the US; since 2010, France, Germany, and Switzerland are the leading suppliers of armaments; Belgium has an export-focused defense industry that focuses on components and subcontracting (2020) |
| Military deployments | 5,100 Burkina Faso/Chad/Mali/Niger (Operation Barkhane, Task Force Takuba; note - in July 2021, France announced that it would withdraw about 2,000 personnel from this force by the beginning of 2022); approximately 300 Central African Republic; 900 Cote D'Ivoire; 1,400 Djibouti; 300 Baltics (NATO); 2,000 French Guyana; 900 French Polynesia; 1,000 French West Indies; 350 Gabon; est. 500 Middle East (Iraq/Jordan/Syria); 950 Lebanon (UNIFIL); 1,400-1,500 New Caledonia; 1,700 Reunion Island; 350 Senegal; 650 United Arab Emirates (2020-2021) note - France has been a contributing member of the EuroCorps since 1992 | 125 France (contributing member of EuroCorps); 100 Mali (EUTM/MINUSMA); est. 260 Baltic States (NATO) (2020) |
Source: CIA Factbook
