In Belgium, the Belgian military’s responsibilities include territorial defense, humanitarian/disaster relief, assistance to the police if required, international peacekeeping missions, and support to its NATO and EU security commitments, which Belgium considers vital components of its national security policy; outside of the country, the military operates almost always within an international organization or a coalition, such as its ongoing deployments to Africa for the EU and UN, eastern Europe as part of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence mission, and the Middle East with an international coalition to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham; Belgium was one of the original 12 countries to sign the North Atlantic Treaty (also known as the Washington Treaty) establishing NATO in 1949; it hosts the NATO headquarters in Brussels; Belgium also cooperates with neighboring countries, such as Luxembourg and the Netherlands, in conducting joint patrols of their respective air spaces and in a composite combined special operations command with Denmark and the Netherlands

the Belgian military is a small, professional, and all-volunteer force equipped with modern Western equipment; the Land Component’s combat forces are a motorized brigade and a special operations regiment; the Marine Component is a compact but active force that conducts a variety of missions ranging from territorial water patrols to humanitarian and counterpiracy operations, as well as support to multinational security operations; it has two frigates, which are supported by several patrol boats and mine warfare vessels; the Air Component has about 50 US-made F-16 fighter aircraft, which are slated to be replaced by US F-35 stealth multirole fighter aircraft by 2025 (2023)