Military branches:
Royal Brunei Armed Forces: Royal Brunei Land Forces, Royal Brunei
Navy, Royal Brunei Air Force
Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age (est.) (2004)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 103,885 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: approx. 85,045 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 3,478 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$290.7 million (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
5.1% (2004)
Transnational Issues Brunei
Disputes - international:
in 2003 Brunei and Malaysia ceased gas and oil exploration in their
disputed offshore and deepwater seabeds and negotiations have
stalemated prompting consideration of international legal
adjudication; Malaysia's land boundary with Brunei around Limbang is
in dispute; Brunei established an exclusive economic fishing zone
encompassing Louisa Reef in southern Spratly Islands in 1984 but
makes no public territorial claim to the offshore reefs; the 2002
"Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" has
eased tensions in the Spratly Islands but falls short of a legally
binding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants
Illicit drugs:
drug trafficking and illegally importing controlled substances are
serious offenses in Brunei and carry a mandatory death penalty