Austrian armed forces to receive €1.3bln budget boost

The Austrian Armed Forces is to receive an additional 1.3 billion euros (1.46 billion U.S. dollars) in funding for 2016 to 2020.

The extra funding was confirmed Friday by Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil, who was joined by Chief of General Staff Othmar Commenda.

The largest portion of the budget upgrade of 896 million euros is to take effect structurally,in particular to secure the ongoing operations of the armed forces.

A total of 166 million euros is also intended for support and assistance measures related to the migrant crsis for both the current year and 2017.

The armed forces will now also see a total 400 to 500 million euros made available for investments each year. This will primarily be spent on both troops and the militia, in particular in areas such as protection for soldiers, protected vehicles, mobility, infrastructure, increased exercises, and cyber-defense.

Commenda referred to the outcome as "a dream," and the two officials said current limitations to the operations of the armed forces due to budget restraints could be lifted once again.

Source: XINHUA