| Military of Netherlands |
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|---|---|
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| Service branches | Koninklijke Landmacht Koninklijke Marine, Koninklijke Luchtmacht Koninklijke Marechaussee |
| Leadership | |
| Minister of Defence | Eimert van Middelkoop |
| State Secretary of Defence | Jack de Vries |
| Chief of Defence | General Peter van Uhm |
| Manpower | |
| Military age | 17 [1] |
| Available for military service |
3,557,918, age 15–49 (2005 est.) |
| Fit for military service |
2,856,691, age 15–49 (2005 est.) |
| Reaching military age annually |
123,584 (2005 est.) |
| Active personnel | 61,130 (77th) |
| Expenditures | |
| Budget | €8.525.000.000 (11.2 billion USD) (2009) |
| Percent of GDP | 1.65% (2009) |
The military of the Netherlands is composed of four branches, all of which carry the prefix Koninklijke (Royal):
Conscription in the Netherlands was suspended in the year 1996. All military specialities, except for the submarine service and the Marine Corps, are open to female recruits. The Korps Commandotroepen, the Special Operations Force of the Netherlands Army, is open to women, but because of the extremely high physical demands for initial training, it is found impossible for women to become a commando. The Dutch Ministry of Defence employs 68,000 personnel, including both civilian and military personnel.
Within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, there are small local armed forces on the islands of Aruba (Arumil) and Curaçao (Antmil). These operate under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
The military ranks of the Dutch armed forces have similarities with British and U.S. military ranks.
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Unlike many military organizations, Dutch military members are represented by a union. This union is the General Federation Military Personnel (the acronym is AFMP) was recognized by the Dutch government in 1966 and represents both current and retired military personnel. The AFMP is a member of the Dutch Federation of Trade Unions, FNV.
The budget for the military in 2007 was €7.7 billion. Several political parties have suggested raising the military expenditure so that it is closer to the NATO standard for military expenditures, which is 2.0% of the GDP. For 2008 there is a budget increase of around €500 million, bringing the budget in 2008 to €8.2 billion. With the agreement to stay in Afghanistan until 2010, another €850 million will be added to the budget over the next years, to compete with the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan. The budget for 2009 is now around €8.5 billion.
Since the 1990s, the Dutch military has been involved in four major military campaigns:
The Netherlands announced in December 2007 that it will begin withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, which are mainly in Uruzgan Province, in July 2010. "I do not have assurances that other countries will be ready to replace Netherlands troops, but I am certain that Dutch troops will leave in 2010," Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said. "I indicated that in writing ... to the NATO secretary general, who has confirmed it."[2] In January 2009, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende reiterated that the 1,600 Dutch troops in Afghanistan would end their mission in 2010, saying "We will stop in Uruzgan in 2010." He ruled out the possibility of the Netherlands keeping its troops in Afghanistan past 2010 with any force comparable to its current deployment [3]. In December 2009, reacting to three requests received from the side of the US by Vice President Biden, the special American representative to Afghanistan Holbrooke and Secretary of State Clinton, and also a request by Secretary General of NATO Rasmussen, the Dutch government announced that the final decision on the continuation of the mission in Uruzgan would be on its agenda in March 2010. Two ministers from the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA), Koenders (Development Aid) and Bos (Finance and Vice PM) in the meantime pleaded termination, which is also the opinion of the majority of the Dutch parliament [4][5][6][7].
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2006 edition".
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