Introduction
How is the Military in Ethiopia and how does it work to maintain Sucity and fight terrorism? In terms of Military and security forces, we have the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF; aka Federal Defense Force of Ethiopia, FDRE): Army, Air Force, Naval Force, Defense Cyber Main Directorate (2025).
In Ethiopia, the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) is focused on both external threats emanating from its neighbors and internal threats from multiple internal armed groups; since 1998, the ENDF has engaged in several conventional and counterinsurgency operations, including border wars with Eritrea (1998-2000) and Somalia (2006-2008) and internal conflicts with the Tigray regional state (2020-2022), multiple insurgent groups and ethnic militias, and the al-Shabaab terrorist group; as of 2025, the ENDF was actively conducting counterinsurgency operations against anti-government militants in several states, including the Amhara militia Fano and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), as well as al-Shabaab in Somalia (2025)
Security and military information of Ethiopia
| Military and security service personnel strengths | available information varies widely; estimated 150-300,000 active-duty Defense Force (2025) |
|---|---|
| Military equipment inventories and acquisitions | the ENDF's major weapons and equipment inventory has traditionally been comprised of Russian, Soviet, and Eastern bloc material; it suffered considerable equipment losses during the 2020-2022 Tigray conflict; in more recent years, Ethiopia has diversified its arms sources to include weapons from China, Israel, Turkey, Ukraine, and the UAE; Ethiopia has a modest industrial defense base centered on small arms and production of armored vehicles under license (2024) |
| Military service age and obligation | 18-22 years of age for voluntary military service (although the military may, when necessary, recruit a person more than 22 years old); no compulsory military service, but the military can conduct callups when necessary and compliance is compulsory (2023). |
| Military deployments | as many as 10,000 troops Somalia (approximately 2,500 under the AU; the remainder under a bilateral agreement with the Somali Government); 1,500 South Sudan (UNMISS) (2024). |
| Military expenditures | |
| Military Expenditures 2024 | 0.7% of GDP (2024 est.) |
| Military Expenditures 2023 | 1% of GDP (2023 est.) |
| Military Expenditures 2022 | 1.7% of GDP (2022 est.) |
| Military Expenditures 2021 | 0.5% of GDP (2021 est.) |
| Military Expenditures 2020 | 0.5% of GDP (2020 est.) |
Terrorism
In Ethiopia, the different Terrorist group(s) inlcude: al-Shabaab
All Important Facts about Ethiopia
Want to know more about Ethiopia? Check all different factbooks for Ethiopia below.
