Azanian Armed Forces

Azanian Armed Forces
The service marks of the six service branches of the Azanian Armed Forces
Founded	September 20, 1810 (1810-09-20)
Current form	March 11, 1922 (1922-03-11)
Service branches	Azanian Army Azanian Navy Azanian Air Force Azanian Marine Corps Azanian Space Force Azanian Coast Guard
Headquarters	The Wall, Independence, D.L., Azania
Leadership
Commander-in-chief	Joseph Durham III
Secretary of Defense	Lázaro dos Anjos
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff	Gen. Curtis Sutherland
Manpower
Military age	18–49
Conscription	None
Available for military service	226,554,866 males, age 18−49 (2020), 247,250,195 females, age 18−49 (2020)
Fit for military service	184,257,073 males, age 18−49 (2020), 193,151,852 females, age 18−49 (2020)
Reaching military age annually	9,893,439 males (2020), 9,578,002 females (2020)
Active personnel	3,414,285 (ranked 1st)
Reserve personnel	1,676,080
Deployed personnel	312,184
Expenditures
Budget	$949.593 billion (FY 2020)
Percent of GDP	4.52% (FY 2020)
Industry
Domestic suppliers	List of suppliers
Related articles
History	Military history of Azania
Ranks	Military ranks of Azania

The Azanian Armed Forces are the military forces of Azania. The military consists of six branches; the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. The President of Azania serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, and coordinates with the Secretary of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to development and execute the military policies of the nation. The highest-ranking military official is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position which is currently occupied by Gen. Curtis Sutherland of the Azanian Army. Additionally, the National Guard of Azania operates as the premier reserve component of the military, providing trained military personnel from all 70 states of the country to the common defense Azania. Finally, due to the evolving nature of modern warfare, the Cybersecurity Forces were established in 2015 by executive order as a specialized branch of the military, though subordinate to the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Department of Defense.

Azania's maintains the largest unified military force in the world, with nearly 3.4 million active personnel, and another 1.7 million reservists as of 2020. Furthermore, the military operates with a budget of $949.593 billion for the year of 2020 according to the federal budget presented to Congress the previous year. Most of the budget is allotted to the maintenance of personnel salaries, and the vast weapon stores throughout the country for the rapid mobilization of the population during wartime. Due to the vast size of the population in the present and the past, the military has always been an all-volunteer force, with conscription barred in the constitution in 1865. Military service has been open to women since the formation of the armed forces, and women today make up about 21% of military personnel. The military of Azania were unified into a single institution in the Military Reorganization Act of 1922, which laid out the framework that would serve as the basis for all future operations of the Azanian Armed Forces. It likewise established the modern Azanian military as it exists today, recognizing the Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps as independent branches of the military, with distinct formations separate from the Army and Navy.

The armed forces have played a distinct role in the history of Azania, helping to expand the borders of the nation during its formative years, as well as defending its sovereignty during the various points in the country's history where the European powers attempted to partition the country in 1883. Following the successful defense and expansion of the country in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, the Azanian military emerged as one of the most experienced fighting forces in the world, and the largest military force on the continent of Africa. Decades-long insurgencies fighting against the native African population of Azania would further bolster the capabilities of Azania's military, and help establish Azania as a truly independent power on the world stage. Contributions to the defeat of the Axis Powers during World War II would likewise cement the reputation of the armed forces as one of the world's premier military institutions. Today, Azania maintains several military bases overseas in friendly states and international hotspots where a military presence is required for the national security of Azania, as well as several so-called "black sites" where its intelligence forces operate against terrorist elements in the global War on Terror.

Azania has not disclosed its nuclear capabilities to the League of Nations, and is not a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Azanian military is believed to have successfully developed nuclear weapons in 1979, with some nuclear weapons experts claiming the country has a stockpile between 100–500 warheads, a claim with Azania has neither confirmed nor denied. Regardless of the status of its nuclear capabilities, Azania possesses a vibrant nuclear power grid, and is well within the threshold of developing an arsenal of nuclear warheads and the delivery mechanisms for them if pushed to do so. Azania has unofficially sworn itself to a "no first use" policy in the event that a nuclear conflict becomes inevitable, leading some within the international community to believe the country does indeed possess a nuclear arsenal.