| Military branches | South African National Defence Force (SANDF): South African Army (includes Reserve Force), South African Navy (SAN), South African Air Force (SAAF), South African Military Health Services (2021) |
| Military service age and obligation | 18-26 years of age for voluntary military service; women are eligible to serve in noncombat roles; 2-year service obligation (2021) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 0.9% of GDP (2021 est.) 1% of GDP (2020 est.) 1% of GDP (2019) 1% of GDP (2018) 1% of GDP (2017) |
| Military and security service personnel strengths | the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is comprised of approximately 75,000 personnel (40,000 Army; 7,000 Navy; 10,000 Air Force; 8,000 Military Health Service; 10,000 other, including administrative, logistics, military police) (2020) |
| Military equipment inventories and acquisitions | the SANDF's inventory consists of a mix of domestically-produced and foreign-supplied equipment; South Africa's domestic defense industry produced most of the Army's major weapons systems (some were jointly-produced with foreign companies), while the Air Force and Navy inventories include a mix of European, Israeli, and US-origin weapons systems; since 2010, Sweden is the largest supplier of weapons to the SANDF (2020) |
| Military deployments | 1,050 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) (Jan 2021) |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
