Australian Defence Force

Australian Defence Force;
	Ensign of the Australian Defence Force.svg; Flag of the Australian Defence Force
Current form	1976 (ADF established)
Parts	Australian Army; Royal Australian Air Force ; Royal Australian Navy
Headquarters	Part of the Australian Defence Organisation
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove as representative of Charles III, King of Australia
Minister for Defence	Marise Payne
Chief of the Defence Force	Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin
Serving soldiers
Military age	16.5 years for selection process, 17 years to serve, 18 years to deploy on operations (2013)
Available to; be a soldier	4,999,988 males, age 16–49 (2009 est.),; 4,870,043 females, age 16–49 (2009 est.)
Fit to be; a soldier	4,341,591 males, age 16–49 (2009 est.),; 4,179,659 females, age 16–49 (2009 est.)
Reaching military; age annually	144,959 males (2009 est.),; 137,333 females (2009 est.)
Active employees/soldiers	57,982
Reserve personnel	23,232 (Active); 22,166 (Standby)
Deployed personnel	2,241 (10 September 2015)
Expenditures
Budget	A$31.9 billion(2015–16)
Percent of GDP	1.92 percent
Industry
Annual exports	Secret, but thought to be over A$600 million

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia. It is made up of the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Air Force and a number of joint groups.

At first the Australian Government set up three separate armed services. In 1976, the government decided to have a single military headquarters. Over time, the three services have combined headquarters, logistics and training camps.

The ADF is small, but uses a lot of technology. With 53,000 full-time active-duty service people and 20,000 part-time reserve forces, it is the largest military force in Oceania. It is much smaller than most Asian military forces. The ADF does not have enough people in some highly skilled areas, but it is still able to send forces in many regions outside Australia.

Australian Defence Force Media

The retirement of the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne without replacement in 1982 marked a shift away from the policy of "forward defence".^[7]
Australian soldiers lead a column of American troops during Exercise Kangaroo '89, which was held in northern Australia.^[8]
A RAAF C-130 Hercules being unloaded at Tallil Air Base, Iraq, during April 2003
Australian Army ASLAV armoured vehicles in Afghanistan during 2011
The Australian Government intends to buy at least 72 F-35A Lightning II aircraft to re-equip the RAAF's air combat force
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a meeting held in March 2023 to announce the details of Australia's plans to acquire nuclear attack submarines as part of the AUKUS partnership
Australian Army soldiers providing security for a RAN LHD Landing Craft during a joint exercise in 2018
Australian Army organisation 2025 (click to enlarge)
CHC Helicopters has been contracted to provide search and rescue and crash response services to all three branches of the ADF
A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion aircraft. These aircraft are fitted with advanced signals intelligence and electronic signals intelligence equipment.