Latvia

the National Armed Forces are responsible for the defense of the country’s sovereignty and territory; they also have some domestic security responsibilities, including coast guard functions, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, and providing support to other internal security services; the Military Police provides protection to the president and other government officials, foreign dignitaries, and key facilities; Latvia’s primary external security focus is Russia in 2004, Latvia joined NATO and the EU, both of which it depends on to play a decisive role in Latvia’s security policy; the Latvian military has participated in EU and NATO missions abroad and regularly conducts training and exercises with EU and NATO partner forces; Latvia also hosts NATO partner forces; since 2017, it has hosted a Canadian-led multinational NATO ground force battlegroup as part of the Alliance’s Enhanced Forward Presence initiative; in addition, NATO has provided air protection for Latvia since 2004 through its Baltics Air Policing mission Latvia is a member of the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force, a pool of high-readiness military forces from 10 Baltic and Scandinavian countries designed to respond to a wide range of contingencies in the North Atlantic, Baltic Sea, and High North regions (2025)

140 Kosovo (KFOR/NATO) (2025)

National Armed Forces (Nacionalie Brunotie Speki or NBS): Land Forces (Latvijas Sauszemes Speki), Naval Force (Latvijas Juras Speki, includes Coast Guard (Latvijas Kara Flote)), Air Force (Latvijas Gaisa Speki), National Guard (aka Land Guard or Zemessardze) Ministry of Interior: State Police, State Border Guards, State Security Service (2025)

note: the State Border Guard may become part of the armed forces during an emergency

mandatory military service for all men 18-24; men and women 18-27 may volunteer for military service; service length 11 months in the Armed Forces or National Guard, or 5 years in the National Guard as a whole, with a minimum of 21 days of individual training and a maximum of 7 days of collective training each year (2026)

note 1: conscription was reintroduced in 2024

note 2: as of 2024, women comprised about 16.5% of the military's full-time personnel

the Latvian military's inventory consists of European and US armaments (2025)

approximately 9,000 active-duty military personnel (2025)