Algerian People's National Armed Forces

People's National Armed Forces
الجيش الوطني الشعبي الجزائري (Arabic) Aserdas Aghelnaw Agherfan Adzyari(Berber) Armée nationale populaire(French)
People's National Army emblem
Founded	1954 (Armée de Libération Nationale)
Current form	1962 (Armée Nationale Populaire)
Service branches	Army Navy Air Force Territorial Air Defence Force
Headquarters	Algiers
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Minister of National Defence	General of the Army Ahmed Gaid Salah
Manpower
Conscription	19-30 years of age 12 month term
Available for military service	9,736,757 males, age 16-49, 9,590,978 (2008 est.) females, age 16-49
Fit for military service	8,317,473 males, age 16-49, 8,367,005 (2009 est.) females, age 16-49
Reaching military age annually	375,852 males, 362,158 (2009 est.) females
Active personnel	520,000
Reserve personnel	400,000
Expenditures
Budget	$13 billion (2016)
Industry
Domestic suppliers	SNVI ECMK-K ENIM ECM-R SCAFSE
Foreign suppliers	Russia  China  Germany  Italy
Related articles
History	Military history of Algeria Algerian War of Independence Sand War Yom Kippur War Western Sahara War Algerian Civil War Insurgency in the Maghreb

SNVI
ECMK-K
ENIM

ECM-R

The Algerian People’s National Armed Forces (Armée nationale populaire) is the armed forces of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. Algeria has a large military to counter foreign and domestic threats. It is the direct successor of the Armée de Libération Nationale (ALN), the armed wing of the nationalist National Liberation Front, which fought French colonial rule during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962).

The People's National Army include ground forces, the Algerian Air Force, the Navy (the Marine de la République Algérienne), and the Algerian Air Defence Force. The antecedents of the army were the conventional military units formed in Morocco and Tunisia during the war of independence from France. Except for brief clashes with Morocco in 1976, the armed forces have not been involved in hostilities against a foreign power. Their combat capabilities in defence of the country has thus remained untested.

The Algerian military élite has played a dominating role in Algerian politics ever since independence in 1962, when the army emerged as the only effective powerbroker in a shattered political landscape dominated by weak and competing political factions. At the end of the war of independence, a split developed between the National Liberation Army and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA). The GPRA was set up in 1958 to represent the National Liberation Front abroad, mobilise the funds needed to organise the underground movement and support the refugees who had fled to Morocco and Tunisia. But it was the general staff of the ALN that was actually in charge of the revolution. When the war ended, it "dismissed" the GPRA and took over the running of the new state. Even today, the government is still often seen as the body that applies the policies decided by the army (see Politics of Algeria#Informal power). Many high-ranking officers have held public office. Under Colonel Houari Boumediène (1965–1979) state and army leadership were joined under his highly authoritarian presidency. After his death, factionalization and rivalries within the military and political élites have been a major factor in Algerian politics.