Belgium it is a very fascinating country when it comes to us looking at its people culture and its individual identity
However, lately you're on FTD Facts. I've been diving into
Understanding what makes Belgium a great country and with this particular video
We are going to understand and learn about how powerful Belgium is in the form of military perspective
Because although it may be a smaller country compared to others in terms of population in size
It's still a rather important one in the world that we know of today. How is it going everybody?
Welcome to FTD facts. My name is Dave Walpole. And for those who are coming here for the first time
this is a channel where I look at people cultures and places from all around the world and for my
Reoccuring people who are coming back. Yeah, welcome back guys
It's great to see you again, and it's great to see you learning about different places from around the world
I really love that you guys are doing and I hope you guys are having a great day as well
Let me know how your day is going down there
But today as I said, we're gonna look at Belgium and see how much power this country has
I was actually pretty surprised at some of the important things within this country
I always thought it was a lot smaller and played a lesser role in the world
But well, we're gonna find out you're gonna learn and you might be surprised too now to start it all off
Let's acknowledge. The fact that the Belgium armed forces have been around for quite some time
and as a matter of fact that country people and its politics have been a part of conflicts throughout history from the franco-prussian war of
1870 to world war one world war two and were also a major
contributor to the Cold War and within the country as of today there is roughly a
population of 11 million
491 thousand, but however, we're gonna also look at this from a military perspective
Because of that population the available manpower for the country is roughly four million eight hundred
Thousand people but within that approximately three million eight hundred and fifteen thousand
Classify as fit for service. But within the Belgium armed forces the total military personnel sits at
approximately 29 thousand two hundred and twenty-five people with an active personnel of twenty eight thousand five hundred and
Twenty six now for the country. They also state that there's approximately
700 people in reserve units now
I don't know how
Accurate I have a feeling that this number is a little bit off
if you are actually from Belgium and part of the Armed Forces and you know, otherwise
Let me know down there in the comments section below because here on FTD facts
We don't mind if we're corrected from time to time
Also guys just to remind you guys are really like in this video and you want more content around Belgium or just Armed Forces
Topics be sure to hit that like button cuz if we get a lot then we do more also
I want to mention that when it comes to these numbers
especially when it comes to the actual active personnel, that is based off of a
2018 report in which the report mentions that those numbers are for the year's quota might keep in mind the
Constitution of the country states that the quota for the army can be changed and must be changed every single year
Of course when we talk about how powerful this country is
We need to talk about what kind of people are actually within its military
Let's start from the bottom and work our way to the top
First of all one has to be at least 18 years old to join the military
meaning that the reaching age of the military annually is roughly about
117 thousand people also in these power videos. I also like to mention whether or not women can actually join the military
So let's find out now for Belgium. They actually do allow women to be part of their military and around the early
2000s it was reported that at least a
3,120 woman made up
7.18 percent of the Belgium Armed Forces
now for this particular military, they are divided up into what is known as four different components and
Specifically these components are the land component the air maritime and medical components
Oh also is their conscription within this country
Well, actually no so for conscription for the country of Belgium. It has actually had a history of it. But as of December 31st
1992 the Conscription Act became amended and by March 1st of 1995
The Armed Forces of the country was on a volunteer basis only. So now let's look at these individual components
I want to start off with the air component
That is basically the Air Force the Belgian air component is actually one of the oldest air forces the world beginning in 1909
And before I get into this whole thing
I just want to mention the fact that Belgium is currently going through a
somewhat of a modernization and an update of its aircraft
The reason is is because they actually want to be able to improve their response times to not only within their own country
But other countries around the world, so that's the thing that they're going through
So with that some of the numbers right now might not be the most accurate
but it's a loose estimate with that in mind their total aircraft strength sits at
164
approximately and as for the main fighters of the country they have approximately 44 of them in which they use the
F-16 Fighting Falcon now when I mentioned that they were going through an upgrade that is one thing that I also want to mention is
That these f-16s are pretty much going to be replaced by the new
F-35 fighter in which as of October?
they placed an order for 34 of these fighters and they plan to be delivered in the short coming years as for transports they have
Approximately 49 and 11 of these currently are the Lockheed
c-130 aircraft
However, I should also mention that they do have seven new aircraft on order and they are the large Airbus a400m Atlas
tactical aircraft for trainers this country has quite a lot of them sitting at 70 in which nine of them are the
F16 their total helicopters sit at 33 for helicopters
I should mention that they don't have any what is known as attack helicopters
most of these are classified as utility helicopters
And as a matter of fact, they just recently purchased the nh90 which is a major European
Helicopter to be added to their list and with that in mind
I should also mention that the country is planning on adding a aerial refuelers and as well
They plan to purchase UAVs that are used mainly for reconnaissance and not attack land components
Let's go right down to the ground. Now. You may wonder does this country actually have any tanks
Well, unfortunately it has zero and of course you may wonder why well, the reason for this was in
2014 Belgium retired the last of its leopard MBTs
However, there's also a major rumor that they also do have a few of these leopards left in storage
However, there's no official number that's been stated so I can't say whether or not that's true or not again
If you know anything and you're from the Armed Forces
Let us know down there because I'm very curious
and for the last time one of these leopard MBTs were seen in public was during the Independence Day Parade of
2014 and the main reason the army decided to get rid of all these vehicles is
Because they wanted to remove tracked equipment and go with wheeled equipment instead
also for armored fighting vehicles they sit at
545 currently
268 of these are the Parana C 3. However, these will also be replaced in
2025 by the VB, mr. Griffin in which they've currently ordered
417 of these as of
2017 I'm not gonna lie
Does anyone ever think that these vbm ours look a little bit like something from the Jurassic world series?
They look a little too futuristic for me. I don't know
That's just me your thoughts down there as for artillery. The country does not possess our own
Self-propelled artillery units they do have approximately 14 towed artillery
However to find this number I actually had to dig a bit because I'm not a hundred percent on this one either
Because I've read that they do have an artillery
Department that is known as the artillery battalion in which they have approximately nine hundred soldiers within it and of these
Fourteen artillery units they use the lg1
105 millimeter cannons as further surface-to-air batteries. They were disbanded on December as of
2017 which means of course this country also doesn't have any rocket projectors at all
now one particular unit that is sometimes forgotten about when we think of the Belgium forces is the Navy and this is
unfortunate for the guys that do serve the country because I think one of the reasons why it's
Sometimes forgotten about is because it's a rather small Navy
Officially known as the maritime component they say they have roughly seventeen Navy assets
Of course, this country has no use for aircraft carriers and they do have two frigates
Now interesting enough comes to the frigates within Belgium. They actually have a partnership with the Netherlands
This is because of these two frigates they are the corel doormen class frigates
which if you guys watched during our Dutch Navy video
Which I just recently did. I'll just put a card up here if you guys want to check it out
They pretty much use the chorale Dorman type frigate and it's from that country
and these two frigates are the Leopold one and the Lewis Marie and of course they've been around since
1991 and although they may seem older they recently got a facelift and were modernized in between the years of
2012 to 2015 however to solidify the partnership with the Netherlands these two countries actually are planning to
Completely replace the chorale Dorman with a new type of frigate and although not much is known about this new surface
combatant ship they say that they plan on replacing it anywhere between
2020 s2 2030 s with Belgium planning to have their first one by
2027 of course when it comes to other frigates, they used to have more but in 2007
They sold off the last few ones to Bulgaria and of course to dive more into the Navy itself
They have zero destroyers. They also have zero Corvettes and zero submarines
however
They have approximately two patrol vessels six mind warfare vessels and of course to support
vessels now probably the biggest question of them all and that is the one that I want to know is
Nukes does Belgium have them let's find out
Well firstly let's mention that Belgium has been a major part of what is known as the nuclear non-proliferation treaty
And has been a major member since it's signed and ratified it in 1968
Currently though Belgium does not own or possess any forms of nuclear
Weapons or missiles. However
They do have them in the country. I'll explain that. This is because although Belgium does not own its own nukes
It is part of the NATO nuclear sharing program
which means the United States of
America pretty much has a couple of missiles within the country and the United States owns
Those missiles Belgium does not and currently within Belgium
They say there's anywhere between 10 to 20 of these missile and they are operated by the 52nd Fighter Wing, which is a u.s
Fighter group now. I know what you're probably thinking. Okay, you're saying to yourself, okay
Well, wait if there's missiles in the country, can they just you know fire them off at any time?
well
No
that's not allowed to happen because
With the NATO sharing program because these are nuclear missiles that are owned by the United States
They have to get permission from the United States to use them
So I hope that cleared things up for you guys
Just because there's missiles in the country does not mean that they are owned by Belgian forces and with that in mind because it's part
Of the NATO nuclear sharing program. That means Belgium is a
Part of NATO and it has a lot of allies and it's been that way since it joined in
1949 on top of that one last thing when it comes to Belgium. Let's be real when it comes to having allies
It's got a lot of them because Belgium could be considered 1
Safeguarded little treasure in Europe and this is because not only is Belgium a part of the EU
but the city of Brussels is home to the headquarters of the
European Union
So the last thing that you would ever want to do is do something bad in Belgium to disrupt the economy of the other
27 countries that are a part of the European Union, that would be a bad idea
So there you have it guys
That is me
just looking at the amount of power that Belgium actually has
What are your thoughts on this and did we miss any really cool facts about Belgium that makes it powerful. Of course
I didn't really get too much into the economy of the country. But a its
Major influencer of the European Union, but either way guys, my name is Dave, Walpole
Thank you guys for tuning in once again
If you guys really like this video and you guys, you know want more belgium topics
So you want more power or military topics show?
be sure let me know down there in the comment section below and
Hit those like buttons because like buttons is the best way to find out if you guys actually like the content, you know
You know what? I mean?
but other than that
If first time here hit that subscribe button and that little Bell
Notification so you can stay in tune with the stuff that we're doing
But and then that this is the great and amazing country of Belgium besides its culture and its people it is one really
important country in the entire world
As it's always a country that is always contributing to the world and improving on old ideas
This is Belgium one country that definitely surprised me in how powerful it actually was
Okay, so if you like this video first of all check out this video on just Belgium itself
I mean I learned a lot about what makes this country great
I think you guys will really really like this on top of that. Check out our country's
Playlist and learn about different countries from around the world
You'd be surprised that the stuff you can learn about and you can impress your friends
You can act like you've actually been there, although you probably haven't. Anyways, we'll see in the next one. Okay. Bye
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