Military profile
Eritrea Military Strength
Eritrea ranks #113 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 175,000 active personnel.
Eritrea armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 175,000#27 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 200,000#25 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 0#113 of 145
- Army personnel
- 200,000#14 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 3,500#87 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 1,000#87 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 33#105 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 8#85 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 0#65 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 13#107 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 6#57 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 1,756#16 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 54#52 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 156#54 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 219#22 of 145
Naval power
- Aircraft carriers
- 0#8 of 113
- Destroyers
- 0#15 of 113
- Frigates
- 0#56 of 113
- Corvettes
- 0#47 of 113
- Submarines
- 0#44 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 18#54 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 0#53 of 113
Finance
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $10.0 billion#140 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Armed forces of Eritrea
Branches and forces
Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF): Eritrean Ground Forces, Eritrean Navy, Eritrean Air Force; People's Militia (aka People's Army or Hizbawi Serawit) (2024)
Personnel
available information varies widely; estimated 150,000-200,000 active Defense Forces (2025)
Service age and conscription
Eritrea mandates military service for all citizens age 18-40; 18-month conscript service obligation, which reportedly includes 4-6 months of military training and 12 months of military or other national service (military service is most common); in practice, military and national service is often extended indefinitely; citizens up to the age of 59 eligible for recall during mobilization (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the EDF's inventory is comprised primarily of Soviet-era weapons and equipment (2025)
Good to know
the military’s primary responsibilities are external defense, border security, and providing the regime a vehicle for national cohesion; the conscript-based Army is the dominant service since the country's independence in 1991, the Eritrean military has participated in numerous conflicts, including the Hanish Island Crisis with Yemen (1995), the First Congo War (1996-1997), the Second Sudanese Civil War (1996-1998), the Eritrea-Ethiopia War (1998-2000), the Djiboutian-Eritrean border conflict (2008), and the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia (2020-2022); during the Tigray conflict, the Eritrean Defense Forces were accused of human rights abuses; in recent years, it has provided training support to the military of Somalia (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2019: 10% · 2018: 10.2% · 2017: 10.3% · 2016: 10.4% · 2015: 10.6%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Ethiopia
Sudan