Austrian Armed Forces Information & Austrian Armed Forces Links at HealthHaven.com

Austrian Armed Forces; Bundesheer
	; Logo of the Bundesheer
Founded	November 8, 1918
Current form	May 15, 1955
Service branches	Land Forces; Air Forces
Headquarters	Vienna
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	President Heinz Fischer
Minister of Defence	Norbert Darabos
Chief of staff	General Edmund Entacher
Manpower
Military age	18
Conscription	6 months
Available for; military service	1,914,800 males, age 16-49,; 1,870,134 females, age 16-49
Fit for; military service	1,550,441 males, age 16-49,; 1,515,365 females, age 16-49
Reaching military; age annually	48,967 males,; 46,633 females
Active personnel	35,000
Reserve personnel	72,000
Expenditures
Percent of GDP	0.9% (2005)
Industry
Domestic suppliers	Steyr Mannlicher; Steyr-Daimler-Puch; Glock
Foreign suppliers	France; Germany; Italy; United States
Related articles
History	Military history of Austria; Austro-Hungarian Army

The Österreichisches Bundesheer (German for "Federal Army of Austria", officially referred to as the Austrian Armed Forces in English), is the name for the military of the Republic of Austria.

The main branches are the 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).^[1]

Being a landlocked country, Austria has no navy.

[edit] History

Main article: Military history of Austria

Between 1918 and 1921, the Austrian semi-regular army was called Volkswehr ("People's Defence"), and fought against Yugoslavian army units occupying parts of Carinthia. It has been known as "Bundesheer" since then, except when Austria was a part of Nazi Germany (1938-1945; see Anschluss). The Austrian Army did develop a defense plan in 1938 against Germany^{[citation needed]}, but politics prevented it from being implemented.

In 1955, Austria declared its Everlasting Neutrality and made neutrality a constitutional law. The Austrian Military's main purpose since then has been the protection of Austria's neutrality.

With the end of the Cold War, the Austrian military have increasingly assisted the border police in controlling the influx of illegal immigrants through Austrian borders. The war in the neighbouring Balkans resulted in the lifting of the restrictions on the range of weaponry of the Austrian military that had been imposed by a 1955 international treaty.

[edit] Mission

The main constitutional tasks of today's Austrian military are:

to protect the constitutionally established institutions and the population's democratic freedoms.
to maintain order and security inside the country.
to render assistance in the case of natural catastrophes and disasters of exceptional magnitude.

[edit] Equipment

The Austrian military has a wide variety of equipment. 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, S-70 Black Hawk utility helicopters, and Eurofighter Typhoon multi-purpose combat aircraft have been purchased, along with new helicopters to replace the inadequate ones used after the 1999 Galtür Avalanche.

Austria's current equipment includes:

Austrian soldiers deployed with the Steyr AUG.

[edit] Infantry weapons

Glock 17 (Pistole 80) sidearm
FN FAL (StG 58) service rifle, only used by Austrian Guard Company
Steyr AUG (StG 77) service rifle
Steyr SSG 69 sniper rifle
MG 74 machine gun
FN MAG machine gun (only used on Leopard 2A4 tanks, ULAN tanks and Black Hawk helicopters)
Browning M2 (üsMG M2) heavy machine gun
BILL 1 Anti-tank guided weapon (PAL 2000 "Bill")
Carl Gustav recoilless rifle (PAR 66/79)
L16 81mm Mortar (mGrW 82)
Hirtenberger M12-1111 120mm heavy mortar (GrW 86)

Only used by Special Forces:

Steyr TMP submachine gun
FN P90 submachine gun
Remington 870 shotgun
Steyr HS .50 anti-materiel rifle
Barrett M82 anti-materiel rifle

P 80	Steyr TMP	Steyr AUG A1	MG 74
Browning M2 (üsMG M2)	Steyr SSG 69	Steyr HS .50	PAR 66/79

[edit] Vehicles

Austrian Guard Company on parade, July 14th 2007, Champs Elysées, Paris.

Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks - 114
SK-105 Kürassier tank destroyers - 48 (+71 in storage)
ULAN infantry fighting vehicles - 112
Schützenpanzer A1 armored personnel carriers - 261 (+ 106 in storage)
Pandur I armored personnel carriers - 71
Dingo 2 protected vehicles - 35
Iveco LMV - 150
Puch G 4x4
Pinzgauer
M109 A2/A5Ö self-propelled artillery - 80
Bergepanzer M 88A1 armoured recovery vehicle
Bergepanzer Greif armoured recovery vehicle
M578 Light Recovery Vehicle
Pionierpanzer A1 armoured engineer vehicle
Bandvagn 206 tracked articulated, all-terrain carrier
Unimog - 268
Steyr 12M18 truck - 1000
ÖAF SLKW truck

A Leopard 2A4 of the Bundesheer	Ulan during the Austrian National Day	Austrian Pandur I	Iveco LMV
M109 howitzer	A Dingo 2 of the Austrian Army	Austrian Pinzgauer during a military exercise	A s-LKW by ÖAF

[edit] Air defence systems

20 mm Fliegerabwehrkanone 65/68 (FlAK 65/68)
Zwillingsflugabwehrkanonen 35 mm (ZFlAK 85)
Mistral missile

[edit] Aircraft

Soldiers celebrating the Austrian National Day 2006.

Eurofighter Typhoon multi-role fighters - 15
Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft - 3
Saab 105 training aircraft - 28
Pilatus PC-6B Porter transport aircraft - 13
Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer training aircraft - 16
Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk transport helicopters - 9
Bell OH-58 Kiowa Reconnaissance helicopters - 11
Agusta Bell 212 Twin Huey transport helicopters - 23
Agusta Bell 206 JetRanger training helicopters - 11
Alouette helicopters - 24

Eurofighter Typhoon	Lockheed Martin Hercules C.Mk 1P '8T-CB' of 'Flight Regiment 3'	Austrian Saab 105	Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer '3H-FG' of the 'Flight School' in 'Viper' livery and COIN-configuration
Sikorsky S-70A-42 Black Hawk '6M-BH' of 'Flight Regiment 1'	A Bell OH-58 Kiowa	Austrian Bell 212	Agusta Bell 206

[edit] Structure

Structure of the Austrian Army.

[edit] International operations

The Austrian "Erbsentarnmuster", produced between 1957 to 1978.

Currently (August 10, 2009) there are Bundesheer forces in:

Bosnia and Herzegovina
- EUFOR (former SFOR)
- 106 personnel
- since 2 December 2004 under European Union Command

Chad
- United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT)
- 126 personnel

Golan Heights
- United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone (UNDOF)
- 380 personnel

Kosovo
- KFOR
- 555 personnel

[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", named after Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Also nearly every other regiment of the Bundesheer carries on traditions of the famous Austro-Hungarian regiments like "Kaiserjäger", "Rainer", etc.

[edit] Austrian commando frogmen

Former Austrian Patrol boat on the Danube river

Austria's combat frogmen are part of the commando group of the Austrian Armed Forces—the Jagdkommando. The commando group is available for special operations in multinational operations, and for operational clearing-up in remote reconnaissance employments and in military protection of individuals abroad.

They use the Dräger LAR-V oxygen rebreather, which weighs 11 kg and has a 1.5 liter oxygen cylinder and allows a dive 3 hours long.

Beyond that they have special tasks within the range of combat frogmen, the paratroops, and personal guards.

Conditions for training as a frogman	Courses covered by frogman training	Further courses
Fitness Jumping into water from a 10m high tower 300 m swimming in clothes 30 minutes continuous swimming 2400 m run under 10 minutes 5000 m run under 24 minutes 8 km march with pack and weapon 24 km march with 10 kg pack & weapon in 3½ hours 30 m abseiling down a tight diagonal rope	Extended swimming training Amphibious course Boarding training (boarding and controlling vessels) Basic diving course Combat frogman basic course Tactical combat diving course Underwater explosives training	Pioneer diver course Ice diving course Deep diving course Helmet diving course Fort defence course Army diving trainer course

[edit] See also

Jagdkommando
Austrian air defense
Heeresgeschichtliches Museum
Heeresnachrichtenamt
Theresian Military Academy
Austrian Military Police - Kommando Militärstreife & Militärpolizei (Kdo MilStrf&MP)

[edit] References

CIA World Factbook, 2005

^ "Die Führungsstruktur des Österreichischen Bundesheeres" (in German). Österreichs Bundesheer. Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung und Sport. 2009. http://www.bmlv.gv.at/organisation/gliederung/gliederung.shtml. Retrieved 2009-05-12.

[edit] External links

[Struktur-0] "Die Führungsstruktur des Österreichischen Bundesheeres" (in German). Österreichs Bundesheer. Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung und Sport. 2009. http://www.bmlv.gv.at/organisation/gliederung/gliederung.shtml. Retrieved 2009-05-12.

[1]

Contents