Budget $9.1 million (FY01) | Percent of GDP 0.19% (2012 est.) | |
 | ||
Service branches National Police Force
Paramilitary Special Force
National Coast Guard | ||
Mauritius does not have a standing army. All military, police, and security functions are carried out by 10,000 active-duty personnel under the command of the Commissioner of Police. The 8,000-member National Police Force is responsible for domestic law enforcement. The 1,500-member Special Mobile Force (SMF) and the 500-member National Coast Guard are the only two paramilitary units in Mauritius. Both units are composed of police officers on lengthy rotations to those services.
Contents
Organisation and training
The SMF is organized as a ground infantry unit, with six rifle companies, two mobilisable paramilitary companies, and one engineer company, according to the IISS Military Balance 2007. It engages extensively in civic works projects. The Coast Guard has four patrol craft for search-and-rescue missions and surveillance of territorial waters. A 100-member police helicopter squadron assists in search-and-rescue operations. There also is a special supporting unit of 270 members trained in riot control.
Military advisers from India and United Kingdom work with the SMF, the Coast Guard, and the Police Helicopter Unit, and Mauritian police officers are trained in India, United Kingdom and France. India and the United States provide training to Mauritian Coast Guard officers in such fields as seamanship and maritime law enforcement.
Aircraft
In March 1990 one radar equipped HAL Do 228-101 was ordered from India to form a maritime surveillance element by July 1991. This aircraft was reinforced in 1992 by a single twin turbo prop BN-2T Maritime Defender for coastal patrol work. A HAL Do 228 -202 was added to the fleet in 2004