Cabo Verdean Armed Forces

Cabo Verdean Armed Forces
Forças Armadas Cabo Verdeanas
Service branches National Guard and Coast Guard (includes air wing)
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief Jorge Carlos Fonseca (President of Cape Verde)
Chief of staff Jorge Tolentino
Manpower
Conscription 14 months
Active personnel 1,200
Expenditures
Percent of GDP 0.7% (2005)
Industry
Foreign suppliers  United States
 Brazil
 Germany
 Serbia
 Russia
 China
Cabo Verdean Marines.

The Cabo Verdean Armed Forces (Portuguese: Forças Armadas Cabo Verdeanas) or FACV are the military of Cape Verde. They include two branches, the National Guard and the Coast Guard.

History

Before 1975, Cape Verde was an overseas province of Portugal, having a small Portuguese military garrison. This included both Cabo Verdean and European Portuguese soldiers.

At the same time, some Cabo Verdeans were serving in the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARP), the military organization of the PAIGC party that was fighting for the joint independence of Guinea and Cape Verde in the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence. The FARP became the national armed forces of Guinea-Bissau, when its independence was recognized by Portugal in 1974.

The Armed Forces of Cape Verde were created when the independence of the country occurred in 1975, being also officially designated as the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (Forças Armadas Revolucionárias do Povo) or FARP. The Cabo Verdean FARP were made of two independent branches, the Army (Exército) and the Coast Guard (Guarda Costeira).

In the early 1990s, the designation "FARP" was dropped and the military of Cape Verde started to be designated as the Cabo Verdean Armed Forces (Forças Armadas Cabo Verdeanas) or FACV.

In 2007, the FACV started a major reorganization, that included the transformation of the Army into the National Guard (Guarda Nacional).

Together with the Cabo Verdean Police, the FACV carried away Operation Flying Launch (Operacão Lancha Voadora), a major successful operation to try to put an end to a drug trafficking group who smuggled cocaine from Colombia to the Netherlands and Germany and who used Cape Verde as a reorder point. The whole operation took more than three years, being a secret operation during the two first years, being finished in 2010.

Although located in Africa, Cape Verde had always close relations with Europe. Because of this, several opinions defend that Cape Verde may enter the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the NATO.[1]

The most recent engagement of the FACV was the 2016 Cape Verde army mutiny that resulted in 11 deaths.[2]

Structure

Dornier 228 of the Cabo Verdean Coast Guard.

The Cabo Verdean Armed Forces are part of the Ministry of National Defense of Cape Verde and include:

The CEMFA is Colonel, being the highest rank officer of the Armed Forces.

National Guard

Military Police in Mindelo

The National Guard (Guarda National) is the main branch of the Cabo Verdean Armed Forces for the military defense of the country, being responsible for the execution of land and maritime environment operations and the support to internal security. It includes:

There is not a general command of the National Guard. Each military region command is headed by a Lieutenant-Colonel directly subordinate to the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and includes units of the three corps.

Coast Guard

Coast Guard patrol boat Tainha (P 262).

The Coast Guard (Guarda Costeira) is the branch of the Cabo Verdean Armed Forces responsible for the defense and protection of the country's economical interests at the sea under national jurisdiction and for providing air and naval support to land and amphibious operations. It includes:

The Coast Guard is headed by an officer with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. The Naval and Air Squadrons incorporate, respectively, all the vessels and aircraft of the Cabo Verdean Armed Forces.

Equipment

Light weapons

Armored vehicles

Artillery

Anti-aircraft

Aircraft

The Cabo Verdean Army used to have its own air arm; after personnel training received from the USSR in 1982, three Antonov An-26 aircraft were delivered to Cape Verde – these were believed to be the only military aircraft possessed by the nation.[4] However these three aircraft were supplemented in 1991 by a Dornier Do 228 light aircraft equipped for use by the Coast Guard, and, in the late 1990s by an EMB-110 aircraft from Brazil, similarly equipped for maritime operations. The government has been in negotiations with China to acquire multirole helicopters for both military and civilian use.

Manufacturer Model Origin Type Service entry Number Notes
Antonov Antonov An-26  USSR Tactical Transport 1982 3
EADS CASA Casa C-212 MPA[5]  SPA Maritime Patrol Aircraft 2008 1
Dornier Flugzeugwerke Dornier Do 228  GER Maritime usage 1991 1 2 delivered
Embraer EMB-110  BRA Airliner late 1990s 1 –
LET

LET L-410 Turbolet UVP  Czech Republic transport aircraft
 – 1 –
Harbin Harbin Z-9  China Utility 2011 2

Vessels

References

  1. ↑ sprungbrett-nach-westafrika
  2. ↑ "Eleven shot dead in Cape Verde, including two Spanish citizens". Reuters. 2016-04-27. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Military Balance 2010, page 299
  4. ↑
    • World Aircraft Information Files. Brightstar Publishing, London. File 337 Sheet 02
  5. ↑ "infodefensa.com (in Spanish)".

External links

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