Editing Belize (section)

===Armed forces===

{{Main|Military of Belize}}
[[File:Belize Coast Guard and U.S. Navy Working Together.jpg|thumb|left|Belizean Coast Guard working with the [[United States Navy]]]]

The [[Belize Defence Force]] (BDF) serves as the country's military. The BDF, with the Belize National Coast Guard and the Immigration Department, is a department of the Ministry of Defence and Immigration. In 1997 the regular army numbered more than 900, the reserve army 381, the air wing 45 and the maritime wing 36, amounting to an overall strength of approximately 1,400.<ref name="cavehill.uwi.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/bnccde/belize/conference/papers/phillips.html|first=Dion E.|last=Phillips|title=The Military of Belize|date=2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121211184053/http://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/bnccde/belize/conference/papers/phillips.html|archive-date=11 December 2012}}</ref> In 2005, the maritime wing became part of the Belizean Coast Guard.<ref name="ra_20071213">"Channel 5 Belize" (28 November 2005),{{cite web|url=http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=15230 |title=Belizean Coast Guard hits the high seas |access-date=26 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504030931/http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=15230 |archive-date=4 May 2011 }}</ref> In 2012, the Belizean government spent about $17 million on the military, constituting 1.08% of the country's [[gross domestic product]] (GDP).<ref name=CIAFactbookMilitary2019>{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Belize|section=Military and Security|date=14 August 2019}}</ref>
After Belize achieved independence in 1981 the United Kingdom maintained a deterrent force (British Forces Belize) in the country to protect it from invasion by [[Guatemala]] (see [[Guatemalan claim to Belizean territory]]). During the 1980s this included a battalion and [[No. 1417 Flight RAF]] of Harriers. The main British force left in 1994, three years after Guatemala recognized Belizean independence, but the United Kingdom maintained a training presence via the British Army Training and Support Unit Belize (BATSUB) and [[25 Flight AAC]] until 2011 when the last British Forces left Ladyville Barracks, with the exception of seconded advisers.<ref name="cavehill.uwi.edu" />