Estonian Defence Forces
Sign in to saveAlso known as Defence Forces of Estonia, EDF, EK, Kaitsevägi
combined military forces of Estonia
Key facts
- Founded
- 12 November 1918 ; 107 years ago ( 1918-11-12 )
- Current form
- 3 September 1991 ; 34 years ago ( 1991-09-03 )
- Service branches
- Estonian Land Forces , Estonian Navy , Estonian Air Force
- Headquarters
- Headquarters of the Estonian Defence Forces , Tallinn
- Website
- https://mil.ee/en/
- President
- Alar Karis
- Prime minister
- Kristen Michal
- Minister of defence
- Hanno Pevkur
- Commander of the defence forces
- Lieutenant General Andrus Merilo
- Deputy commander of defence forces
- Brigadier General Viktor Kalnitski
- Command sergeant major
- CSM Andreas Rebane
- Conscription
- 8 or 11 months (12 months from 2027 on)
- Active personnel
- 8,200 (4,000 conscripts)
- Reserve personnel
- 230,000 (38,800 in rapid response readiness, 80,000 have received training)
- Budget
- €2.402 billion (2026)
- Percent of gdp
- 5.43% (2026)
- History
- Estonian War of Independence World War II Kosovo Force Iraq War War in Afghanistan Mali War Operation Aspides
- Ranks
- Military ranks of Estonia
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- armed forces
- Part of
- Estonian defence forces
- Has part
- Estonian Air Force
- Country
- Estonia
- Headquarters
- Tallinn
- Parent organization
- Ministry of Defence
- Employees
- 6000
- Official website
- www.mil.ee
- Image
- EKV coat of arms.svg
Show 6 more facts
- topic's main category
- Category:Estonian Defence Forces
- position held by head of the organization
- Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces
- inception
- 1918-00-00
- social media followers
- 1709
- Commons category
- Military of Estonia
- native label
- Kaitsevägi
via Wikidata · CC0
~23 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Estonian Defence Forces, EDF (Estonian: Eesti Kaitsevägi), is the unified military force of the Republic of Estonia. The Estonian Defence Forces consists of the Estonian Land Forces, the Estonian Navy, the Estonian Air Force, and the paramilitary Estonian Defence League. The national defence policy aims to guarantee the preservation of the independence and sovereignty of the state and maintain the integrity of its land area, territorial waters, airspace, and constitutional order. Its main goals remain the development and maintenance of a credible capability to defend the nation's vital interests and of the defence forces in a way that ensures their interoperability with the armed forces of NATO and European Union member states in order to participate in the full range of missions for these military alliances.
History
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Estonian Defence Forces” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.