National Defense Force (NDF)

The constitution defined the role of the military as "defending the territory and national interests." The Ministry of Defence (MoD) plays complementary roles of Department of State and Headquarters of the Defence Force, co-locating the Chief of the Defence Force with the seat of political authority. The main advantage of this design is that it facilitates clear political control of the direction and management of defence.

Namibia formed the National Defense Force (NDF), comprised of former enemies in a 23-year bush war: the PLAN and South West African territorial force. The British formulated the force integration plan and began training the NDF, which consists of five battalions and a small headquarters element. The UNTAG Kenyan infantry battalion remained in Namibia for 3 months after independence to assist in training the NDF and stabilize the north.

The Namibian Defence Force was established in 1990 by the act of Parliament, Article 115, Chapter 15 and the President is the Commander - In - Chief of the Namibian Defence Force. Defense cooperation at various levels has been explored with several governments, including the United States. Areas of cooperation include military education, training, and a fisheries program. A bilateral International Military Education and Training (IMET) program was concluded between the United States and Namibia in January 1991.

The central priorities for MoD is to develop a management plan and strategy to implement and monitor the policy presented in the defence policy and to provide the equipment and resources necessart to its implementation. The structure and organisation of MoD will be kept under review. In addition, the MoD will actively participate in defence and security aspects, including contribution to Government crisis management and contingency planning (including co-operation with other interested ministries).

Aside from these central issues, specific management priorities are also identifiable. These include the determination of force levels, equipment requirements, training, recruitment and deployment policy; career planning, the refinement and review of the concept of operations; the effective management of resource allocation and distribution; and the articulation of the defence programme into a detailed long term financial plan (a long term costing, or LTC). An overriding policy objective will be to align accountability with responsibility and authority as closely as is practicable. The MoD is prepared to share its experiences with other countries whose Defence Forces are developing or restructuring.