Belgian Army - Current Status

Current Status

Since 2002, by a Royal Order issued by Albert II of Belgium the three independent armed forces were merged into one unified structure and organised with four components which consisted of about 47,000 active troops. They are structured as follow:

1. Land Component, previously known as the Land Force (Force Terrestre / Landmacht / Heer);
2. Air Component, previously known as the Air Force (Force Aérienne / Luchtmacht / Luftmacht);
3. Marine Component, previously known as the Naval Force (Force Navale / Zeemacht / Seemacht),
4. Medical Component, previously known as the Medical Service (Service Médicale / Medische dienst / Sanitätsdienst).

The budget of €3.4 billion is divided amongst the four components as follows:

• 63% is spent on salaries
• 25% is spent on equipment maintenance
• 12% is spent on new investments

The operational commands of the components (COMOPSLAND, COMOPSAIR, COMOPSNAV and COMOPSMED) are subordinate to the Staff Department for Operations and Training of the Ministry of Defence, which is headed by the Assistant Chief of Staff Operations and Training (ACOS Ops & Trg), and to the Chief of Defence (CHOD). Another command is the Assistant Chief of Staff Intelligence and Security, which consists of the military intelligence (ADIV - SGRS).

Belgian Defence bases are guarded by Regimental Police (Land Component), Force Protection (Air Component) and Service for Protection of Quarters (Naval Component).

Belgium, which is a member of the NATO and the EU, is currently restructuring its armed forces to be able to faster respond to humanitarian crises or disasters occurring in the world (peacekeeping). In order to do so, the Belgian Land Component is currently phasing out all tracked vehicles in favour of wheeled vehicles. Examples are the new MOWAG Piranha and Dingo 2 vehicles currently bought to replace vehicles such as the Leopard 1A5BE. In addition, the Air Component is buying new aircraft such as the Airbus A400M, NHI NH90 to accompany other aircraft for humanitarian missions such as the Agusta 109 and Alouette 3 helicopters. The transition will be complete by 2015.

Due to Belgium's often-complicated politics, restructuring has led to decisions seen by some as illogical, such as the decision to mount the (very uncommon) CMI 90 mm cannon on the Piranha 3 (munition is very scarce and only made by a handful of manufacturers; it will probably be supplied by Mécar). Finally, other controversies have arisen around the relocation of Belgium’s ‘cavalry school´.

The Belgian Land, Air, and Medical Components all use the same military ranks. The Naval Component's ranks are unique in the Belgian Defence.