Benin Armed Forces
Index
1. Order of battle
2. Overview
3. Defence economics
4. State of military forces
5. Country threat report
6. External deployments
1. Benin Armed Forces Order of Battle
| Total force strength | Army: 6 800 Air Force: 400 Navy: 500 Paramilitary: 2 800 Gendarmerie, 600 Republican Guards Total: 11 100 |
| Army (l’Armee de Terre) | |
| Armour | 20: PT-76 |
| APC/IFV/RECCE | 12: BRDM-2 7: M-8 10: VBL M-11 16: M113 (ex-Belgian) 10: Casspir NG 2000 |
| Artillery | 12: L-118 105mm (Towed) ? 4: M-101 (Towed 105 mm) |
| Mortar | 60 mm 81 mm |
| Rocket launcher | RPG-7 |
| Anti armour | LRAC 89 mm ? |
| Structure | 4 Rapid Intervention units: 1st Commando Parachute Battalion 1st Motorised Battalion 1st Armoured Group National Fire Brigade 5 Inter-arms battalions (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 8th) 6 Support and Combat Support units: 1st Artillery Battalion 1st Engineer Battalion 1st Signal Battalion 1st Material Battalion 1st Logistic Battalion HQ Group |
| Benin People’s Air Force (Force Aerienne Populaire du Benin) | |
| Trainer/surveillance | 2: LH-10 Grand Duc |
| Transport | 2: An-26 (apparently grounded) 2: C-47 ? 1: Commander 500B 1: DHC-6-300 Twin Otter 2: Do-128 1: HS-748 |
| VIP aircraft | 1: B-707-320 (Presidential transport – possibly grounded) 1: F-28 Fellowship |
| Transport helicopter | 4: AW-109BA (Ex-Belgian; acquired in 2007) 2: AS-350B Ecureuil |
| Maritime/RECCE helicopter | 1: SA 313B Alouette II |
| Benin Navy (Forces Navales Beninois) | |
| Patrol | 1: Patriote class 2: Zhuk class (ex-Soviet – allegedly sold for scrap) 3: 32 metre coastal patrol boats (Alibori, Oueme and Zou) delivered by Ocea in 2012. |
| Launches/speedboats | 3: Boston Whaler launches 4: Defender class speedboats (donated by US in 2008-2010. 4 delivered according to US government sources, although some sources claim only 2) |
| Tug | 1: Kondo coastal tug |
| Patrol/Strike boat (Gun/Missile/OPV/IPV) | 2: Matelot Brice Kpomasse class (Matelot Brice Kpomasse and La Sota -ex-Chinese; donated in 2000) |
2. Overview
Head of State and Government and Minister of Defence: President Thomas Yayi Boni
Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces: Major General Chabi Amoussa Mathieu Boni
Member of: UN, AU, ICAO, AfDB, Seabeds Committee
Conscription: 18 months
3. Benin defence economics
Defence budget percentage per GDP (2000-2010)
Note: Data for years 2007, 2009, 2010 are not known.
Defence budget per US$ Mil (2000-2011)
Defence budget percentage growth (2000-2011)
4. State of military forces
Benin has a small military geared for internal operations. The Air Force is positioned to fulfil transport and communications functions and support ground forces. It has a limited surveillance capability, but this has been bolstered by the arrival of new aircraft.
Benin’s biggest security threat is piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, something which affects its economic wellbeing (there were 45 incidences of hijacking and robbery at sea in the Gulf of Guinea in 2011). Although its coastline is only 120 km long, until recently the country had barely enough resources to adequately patrol this area and monitor its exclusive economic zone. However, recent purchases have considerably strengthened Benin’s military, especially the navy. New patrol boats from Ocea and aircraft from LH Aviation are being used to patrol the country’s coastline.
Benin has little in the way of procurement programmes, receiving most of its new equipment from donors or at special prices from partnerships. Benin receives aid and training support from countries like the United States, Belgium and France while China has provided a four million euro grant for the purchase of a patrol boat. The Army has little heavy equipment as it is focused on becoming a flexible infantry force for peacekeeping, border security and other such missions. Benin contributes a substantial number of troops to peacekeeping operations and taking part in United Nations peace support operations makes a positive contribution to the government as the country is compensated for such activity.
5. Country threat report
| Threat type | Overview |
| External | • Benin is facing no external military threat. • Maritime piracy within the Gulf of Guinea has been drastically increasing. |
| Internal |  • Crime is Benin’s biggest internal security threat. |
| Regional | • Islamic militancy in the West African region could affect Benin’s foreign security policy design. |
| Political | • Benin is considered to be political stable. |
6. External deployments
| Operation | Country | Personnel/assets |
| Peacekeeping | DRC | 450 |
| Peacekeeping | Liberia | 2 |
| Peacekeeping | Sudan | 5 |
| Peacekeeping | Cote D’Ivoire | 427 |
| Peacekeeping | CAR | 3 |
| Peace enforcement | Mali | 300 |
Benin Armed Forces address
Ministry of National Defence
P.O. Box 2493
Cotonou/Benin
Tel +229 300536/300890/301988
Fax: +229 301 821
E-mail: [email protected]
Note: The order of battle figures for Benin may not be representative due to the varying serviceability of much of its equipment.
