The Military of Austria reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Military of Austria

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.

With the end of the Cold War, the Austrian military has been increasingly 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 the first steps to joining a (future) European military alliance.

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-purpse combat aircraft have been (or are being) purchased. ---

Military branches:

• Army (includes Flying Division)

Military manpower - military age:

• 19 years of age

Military manpower - availability:

• males age 15-49: 2,088,993 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:

• males age 15-49: 1,733,681 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:

• males: 51,335 (2000 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:

• $1.7 billion (FY98)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:

• 1.2% (FY98)

Reference

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

See also : Austria

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