Military of Austria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Military of Austria
Military manpower
Military age	18 years of age for compulsory military service; 16 years of age for voluntary service; in 2006 compulsory military service obligation was reduced from 8 months to 6
Availability	males age 15–49: 1,914,800 (2005 est.)
Fit for military service	males age 15–49: 1,550,441 (2005 est.)
Reaching military age annually	males: 48,967 (2005 est.)
Active troops
Military expenditures
Amount	$1.497 billion (FY01/02)
Percent of GDP	0.9% (2004)

Image:Leopard2 a5 front.jpg

Image:Steyr AUG DM-SD-02-00601.jpg The name of the Military of Austria is Bundesheer ("Federal Army"). For a short while between 1918 and 1921 the Austrian semi-regular army was called Volkswehr (people's defence), fighting against Slovenian indigenous inhabitants in Carinthia. Since then (with the exception of the period 1938-1945, when Austria was a part of Nazi Germany; see also Anschluss) it has been known as "Bundesheer". The Austrian Army did develop a defence plan in 1938 against Germany, but due to political decisions it was never carried out.

In 1955, Austria declared her Everlasting Neutrality and made neutrality a constitutional law. The main purpose of the Austrian military since then has been the protection of Austria's neutrality. The main branches since the last structural reform are Land Forces (Kommando Landstreitkräfte; KdoLaSK), Air Forces (Kommando Luftstreitkräfte; KdoLuSK), Mission Support (Kommando Einsatzunterstützung; KdoEU), International Missions (Kommando Internationale Einsätze; KdoIE), Command Support (Kommando Führungsunterstützung; KdoFüU) and Special Forces (Kommando Spezialeinsatzkräfte; KdoSEK).

With the end of the Cold War, the Austrian military has increasingly assisted the border police in safeguarding Austrian borders against illegal immigrants. The war in the neighbouring Balkans had resulted in the restrictions on the Austrian military's range of weaponry, imposed by a 1955 international treaty, being lifted.

Recently, Austria has spent considerable amounts of money modernizing its military arsenal. 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-purpose combat aircraft have been (or are being) purchased.

1 Traditions
2 Reference
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Traditions

Some of the traditions of the old Austro-Hungarian Army continue to be carried on in Bundesheer. For example, the most famous regiment in the Bundesheer is the "Hoch und Deutschmeister Regiment", now known as Jägerregiment Wien based in "Maria Theresien Kaserne" after Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Also nearly every other regiment of the Bundesheer has to carry on traditions of the famous Austro-Hungarian regiments like "Kaiserjäger", "Rainer", etc.