Federal Ministry for National Defence and Sport

For a list of holders of the ministry, see List of Defense Ministers of Austria. For the defence ministries of other countries, see defence minister.

The Ministry of Defence and Sports (Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung und Sport, sometimes shortened to BMLVS or Verteidigungsministerium) is the government ministry of Austria for all matters relating to the military affairs (especially the Austrian Armed Forces) or to sport. In the Faymann cabinet, its current minister is Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ).

Authority

The Ministry of National Defence and Sport's base in the Rossauer Kaserne in Vienna.

The minister is head of all the ministry's subordinate authorities and has command and control of the Austrian Armed Forces in all cases it is not directly subject to the President of Austria and is 'Ressortchef' of the 'Sektion Sport'. For certain acts, such as the use of more than 5,000 men of the militia or reserve, the Federal Minister for Defence's authorization is bound by this, since in these cases the constitutional command of the army takes precedence.

Responsibilities

Specifically, the Ministry^[1] is responsible for matters regarding:

• the armed forces' constitutionally-defined duties
• the armed forces' operational and tactical leadership
• military aviation
• the provision of arms, equipment, materiel and personnel to the armed forces
• weapons, ammunition and munitions
• military technology, including weapons testing and military-technical research
• military restricted areas
• care of the armed forces' health, including military hospitals and supply of medicines
• military attachés
• the establishment, maintenance and management of all military buildings, facilities and properties owned by the state, the ministry building, the military administration or the army, including the Military History Museum, known as the Heeresgeschichtlichen Museum
• shipping, road transport, telecommunications and mapping in the military field
• the running of the Military History Museum, known as the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Militärhistorisches Institut).
• the armed forces' finances
• the army forest at Allentsteig
• management of Austria's shares in the SIVBEG (Strategische Immobilien Verwertungs-, Beratungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft) as long as the federal government is a shareholder, and the regulation of that company.
• the European Defence Agency
• sport affairs

Office holders

• Minister: Hans Peter Doskozil
• Head of the Minister's Cabinet: Stefan Kammerhofer
• Chief of Staff of the Minister's Cabinet: Brigadier (1 Star General) Jürgen Ortner
• Chief of the General Staff (Head of the entire Austrian Bundesheer): General Othmar Commenda
  • Deputy Chief of Staff: Generalleutnant / Lieutenant General (3 Star General) Bernhard Bair
• Head of Section I (Zentralsektion or Central Section): Sektionschef / Head of Section, Mr. Christian Kemperle
• Head of Section II (Planung or Planning): Generalleutnant / Lieutenant General (3 Star General) Franz Leitgeb
• Head of Section III (Bereitstellung or Supply): Generalleutnant / Lieutenant General (3 Star General) Norbert Gehart
• Head of Section IV (Einsatz or Mission): Generalleutnant / Lieutenant General (3 Star General) Karl Schmidseder
• Head of Section V (Sport): Samo Kobenter

Subordinate departments

Subordinate to the ministry are the:

• Streitkräfteführungskommando (Supreme Command): Generalleutnant / Lieutenant General (3 Star General) Franz Reißner
  • Stellvertretender Kommandant (Deputy Commander): Generalmajor / Major General Dieter Heidecker
• Kommando Einsatzunterstützung (Operations Support Command): Brigadier (1 Star General) Andreas Pernsteiner
• Führungsunterstützungszentrum (Leadership Support Center): Brigadier (1 Star General) Andreas Wochner
• Ämter (Offices) :
  • Armed forces personnel office: Hofrätin / Councillor, Mrs. Brigitte Habermayer-Binder
  • Armed forces' building and surveying office : Hofrat / Councillor Johannes Sailer
  • Office for armaments and procurement: Brigadier (1 Star General) Christian Tauschitz
  • Office for armaments and military technology: Brigadier (1 Star General) Michael Janisch
  • Heeresnachrichtenamt (Army Intelligence Office): Generalmajor / Major General Edwin Potocnik
  • Abwehramt (Defense Agency): Generalmajor / Major General Anton Oschep
• Academies:
  • Landesverteidigungsakademie (National Defence Academy): Generalleutnant / Lieutenant General Erich Csitkovits
  • Theresianische Militärakademie (Theresa Military Academy): Generalmajor / Major General Norbert Sinn
  • Heeresunteroffiziersakademie (Army Non-Commissioned Officers' Academy): Brigadier (1 Star General) Nikolaus Egger
• Weapons training and technical schools:
  • ABC-Abwehrschule (ABC - Defence School): Oberst / Colonel Michael Schuster
  • Heerestruppenschule (Army Soldiers / Troops School): Oberst dG / Colonel of the General Staff, Jürgen Baranyai
  • Flieger- und Fliegerabwehrschule (Flight and Air Defence School): Brigadier (1 Star General) Günther Schiefert
  • Heereslogistikschule (Army Logistics School): Brigadier (1 Star General) Dieter Jocham
  • Führungsunterstützungsschule (Leadership Support School): Oberst / Colonel Christian Wally
• Militärmedizinisches Zentrum (Military Medical Centre): Brigadier (1 Star General) Eugen Gallent
• Entminungsdienst / Demining Service Department
• Heeresgeschichtliches Museum / Museum of Military History, Vienna: Christian Ortner

Historical development

The Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Sport have been linked since 2009.

Defence Ministry

Previous to 1918, there was a Ministry of War for the whole of Austria-Hungary and a Ministry of Defence solely for the Austrian half of the empire. The defence ministry took on various names during the First Austrian Republic of 1918 to 1938, but was abolished during Austria's anschluss into Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. During the Allied occupation of Austria from 1945 to 1956, defence was in the remit of the "Office for National Defence"

From 1945 to 1956, during the period of the occupation forces fremdkontrollierten by Republic of Austria were the agendas of national defense for the "Office for National Defence" (Amtes für Landesverteidigung), a section in the Federal Chancellery. This became a new ministry in 1956.

Sports Ministry

Sport first became a government portfolio in Austria in 1966, as part of the remit of the Federal Ministry of Education, which was in 1984 renamed the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Sports. In 1991 sport was moved to the Federal Ministry of Health, Sport and Consumer Protection, then in 1995 to the Federal Chancellery, in 2000 to the Federal Ministry of Public Service and Sports, in 2003 back to the Federal Chancellery and finally in 2009 joined the current Federal Ministry of Defence and Sports.

References

1. Appendix to § 2, Section H of the Federal Ministries Act 1986 as amended

External links

• (German) Official site of the Ministry
• (German) Business division of the Ministry