Military Forces of Colombia

Military Forces of Colombia
Fuerzas Militares de Colombia
The tri-service badge
Service branches	Colombian National Army  Colombian National Navy  Colombian Aerospace Force
Headquarters	Ministry of National Defense, Bogota D.C.
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	President Gustavo Petro
Minister of Defense	Iván Velásquez
General Commander	Major General Helder Fernan Giraldo
Personnel
Military age	18
Conscription	18 months (Army and Aerospace Force) 24 months (Navy) 12 Months (National Police)
Active personnel	293,200[1]
Reserve personnel	34,950[1]
Expenditure
Budget	US$10.6 billion (2018)[2]
Percent of GDP	3.2% (2018)[2]
Industry
Domestic suppliers	Indumil COTECMAR
Foreign suppliers	United States  Israel  Brazil  South Africa  Spain  Russia  Belgium  Germany  France  United Kingdom  Sweden  Canada
Related articles
History	Military history of Colombia
Ranks	Military ranks

The Military Forces of Colombia (Spanish: Fuerzas Militares de Colombia) are the unified armed forces of the Republic of Colombia. They consist of the Colombian Army, the Colombian Navy and the Colombian Aerospace Force. The National Police of Colombia, although technically not part of the military, is controlled and administered by the Ministry of National Defence, and national conscription also includes service in the National Police, thus making it a de facto gendarmerie and a branch of the military. The President of Colombia is the military's commander in chief, and helps formulate defense policy through the Ministry of National Defence, which is in charge of day-to-day operations.

The Military Forces of Colombia have their roots in the Army of the Commoners (Ejército de los Comuneros), which was formed on 7 August 1819 – before the establishment of the present day Colombia – to meet the demands of the Revolutionary War against the Spanish Empire. After their triumph in the war, the Army of the Commoners disbanded, and the Congress of Angostura created the Gran Colombian Army to replace it, thus establishing the first military service branch of the country.

The Colombian military was operationally involved in World War II and was the only Latin American country to send troops to the Korean War. Ever since the advent of the Colombian Conflict, the Colombian military has been involved in combat, pacification, counter-insurgency, and drug interdiction operations all over the country's national territory. Recently it has participated in counter-piracy efforts in the Horn of Africa under Operation Ocean Shield and Operation Atlanta.

The military of Colombia is the third largest in the Western Hemisphere in terms of active personnel and has the fourth largest expenditure in the Americas, behind the United States Armed Forces, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Brazilian Armed Forces respectively.^[3][4]