Tunisian Armed Forces

On June 30, 1956, the Tunisian army was officially founded by decree,[6] in the form of a combined-arms regiment. The necessary equipment was made available to the young state from French stocks.[7] The new army initially comprised 25 Tunisian officers, 250 NCOs and 1,250 men transferred from French Army service, plus 850 former members of the Beylical Guard.[5] Approximately 4,000 Tunisian soldiers continued in French Army service until 1958, when the majority transferred to the Tunisian Army, which reached a strength of over 6,000 that year.

Intakes of conscripts for military service, made mandatory in January 1957, plus the recall of reservists allowed the army to grow to twelve battalions numbering 20,000 men by 1961.[7] Sixty per cent of those troops were deployed for border monitoring and defense duties.

Tunisian units first saw action in 1958 after French intrusions into the south in pursuit of National Liberation Army (Algeria) fighters. In 1960 Tunisian troops served with the United National Peacekeeping Force in the Congo. 1,020 troops from the Tunisian Armed Forces were amongst the first UN troops to arrive in the Congo, by 20 July 1960.[8] In 1961 clashes occurred with French forces based at Bizerte. More than 600 men fell in battle against the French forces. The French evacuated the base after subsequent negotiations with the Tunisian Government.

The Tunisian Navy, founded in 1958, received its first ship in the fall of 1959. The Air Force acquired its first combat aircraft in 1960 . While the Tunisian armed forces obtain equipment from several sources, the United States remains the largest single supplier.[7] Officer and specialist training for Tunisian personnel was formerly undertaken in French and American military academies. Tunisian trainees are now gradually being assigned to newly established military schools within the country.

The January 10, 1957, a law prohibits any military officer to be a member of a group or a political party.[7] However, after 7 November 1987 when the former Prime Minister, General Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali took power senior officers such as Abdelhamid Escheikh and Mustapha Bouaziz took up ministerial appointments.

On 30 April 2002, at around 18.15, the direction of the Army - Brigadier General Abdelaziz Skik who led the Tunisian contingent to Cambodia, two colonels - majors, three colonels, four majors, two lieutenants and a sergeant-major - disappeared in a helicopter crash near the town of Medjez el-Bab.[9]

Tunisia has contributed military forces to United Nations peacekeeping missions, including an army company to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) during the Rwandan genocide. In his book Shake Hands with the Devil, Canadian force commander Roméo Dallaire gave the Tunisian soldiers high credit for their skills and effort in the conflict and referred to them as his "ace in the hole".

During the 2011 Libyan civil war, Tunisian forces, mostly border guards, saw some limited action when fighting between Libyan rebels and loyalist soldiers spilled over the border.[10]

The Library of Congress Country Study says:

His exclusive power to promote military officers has been among the strongest components of Bourguiba's control over the armed forces. From independence, high-ranking officers—general staff and senior commanders in particular—have been carefully selected for their party loyalty more than for their professional experience and competence. This began in the late 1950s when the president dismissed those officers who had trained in the Middle East and who might therefore have been expected to sympathize with the militant Pan-Arab policies of Egypt's Nasser. The hand-picked senior officers, in turn, carefully screened all officers who were considered for positions of authority in line units to ensure that antiregime elements did not pose potential threats at any level of the military establishment.

As a result of these promotion policies, the Tunisian officer corps took on a very homogeneous character that only began to break down in the 1970s. Senior officers have been generally representative of Tunisia's economically and politically dominant families from the north, the coastal areas, and the major cities. Although military men have been kept from operating major business ventures or holding political office while in uniform, it has been common for family members to be prominent in business or in the Destourian political movement. Generally Western and Francophile in outlook, tied by kinship to the country's upper socioeconomic stratum, and personally familiar with leading figures in the PSD, high-ranking Tunisian officers must be classed as part of the national elite.

• 2 Sikorsky HH-3E Pelican
• 16 Sikorsky S-61R Pelican
• 1 SNIAS AS-365N Dauphin-II

• 2 Sikorsky S-76 Spirit
• 4 Agusta Bell AB-412EP
• 1 SNIAS SA-330C Puma
• 4 Agusta-Bell AB-212
• 6 Bell UH-1N
• 18 Bell 205\UH-1H Iroquois
• 18 Agusta-Bell AB205B
• 8 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk

• 2 SNIAS AS-355 Ecureuil-II
• 12 SNIAS AS-350B Ecureuil
• 8 SNIAS AS-316B Alouette-III
• 7 SNIAS AS-313 Alouette-II

• 24 Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior

• AIM-9J Sidewinder AAMs
• AGM-65A Maverick AGMs
• Raytheon BGM-71C Improved-Tow (for MD-500 Defender Helicopters)
• MBDA HOT for SA-342 Helicopters
• AGM-114 Hellfire
• Hydra 70

• 2 Damen Group MSOPV-1400 72m Offshore patrol vessel (two more ordered)[17]
• 65 Foot (20.3M) Full Cabin Inboard Patrol Boats- Features dual 1600 hp MTU 10V2000 diesel engines, shock mitigating seating, climate control, navigation package, and are capable of speeds in excess of 40 knots.[18] Built by U.S. Boat Builder SAFE Boats International and propulsion system designed and supplied by Pacific Power Group.[19]
• 1 Ch.Navals De Lestrel 31.5m class (104 ft,30 knots,2x20mm Guns)
• 3 Ch.Navals De Lestrel 25m (83 ft,23 knots,1x20mm)
• 5 Bremse class (22.6m,2x14.5mm HMGs)[20]
• 4 Gabes class(12.9m,2x12.7mm HMGs)
• 4 Rodman-38 class(11.6m)
• 2 Vosper Thornycroft 103 ft class (27 knota,2x20mm Guns)
• 6 20meter long PCs
• 1 Istiklal (Independence ) 26.5meter Long PC source + Picture

Landing craft and auxiliary vessels include one LCT-3 class LCT, one Robert Conard class 63.7m Survey vessel (NHO Salammbo), one Wilkes class (T-AGS-33) survey ship (NRF Khaireddine), two El Jem class training ships (ex A 5378 Aragosta and A 5381 Polipo delivered by Italian Navy on 17 July 2002), one Simeto class Tanker ( Ain Zaghouin - ex A 5375 delivered by Italian Navy on 10.7.2003) and one White Sumac 40.5m class, one diver training vessel Zarzis.

• Boeing Insitu ScanEagle[21]