Federal Military Establishment

The Federal Military Establishment is a constituent organisation of the Ministry of Defence.

Overview #

The Federal Military Establishment is the senior military organisation of Vekllei, exercising operational command over all armed services of the Commonwealth. It sits within the Ministry of Defence alongside the Federal Intelligence Establishment, which oversees intelligence and security services. Where the Ministry has a broader mandate — policy, procurement, civil defence and policing — the FED is specifically the military in its operational scope, responsible for organising, training and commanding the armed forces in peace and war.

The Establishment is headed by the Chief of the Defence Staff, the senior military officer of the Commonwealth, who reports to the State Secretary of Defence. Beneath the Chief sit the directors of the individual services — maritime, air, territorial and others — who retain considerable autonomy over their own formations. This structure reflects the Vekllei preference for federalism even within its military: services cooperate through interarmes arrangements rather than rigid top-down command, and the FED functions less like a general staff and more like a coordinating authority that becomes a true headquarters only in wartime.

All services operate under a unified naval identity. Vekllei does not maintain separate military branches in the conventional sense — the term “Navy” is synonymous with “military,” and all equipment, signage and vehicles are marked accordingly.¹ This dates to the Commonwealth’s origins as a union of island communities where the sea connects everything. The Maritime Service does not fly its own aircraft, since all aviation belongs to the Air Service. The Territorial Service trains all infantry as marines. These overlapping competencies produce interarmes services for specific missions, in which a single operation might draw regiments from several services under unified command.

The professional military numbers approximately 78,000–100,000 active personnel across all services, supplemented by a militia system modelled loosely on the Swiss citizen-soldier concept. Every adult completes Compulsory Service including military training, creating a mobilisation base of trained reservists across the Commonwealth. In the event of war, municipal militia units under local officers function as a home guard, swelling total forces beyond one million.

Vekllei’s strategic geography — 83 island republics scattered across two oceans, connected by politics rather than proximity — shapes everything the FED does. There is no heartland to invade, no capital whose capture ends the war. Each republic maintains autonomous defence infrastructure, and no single strike can cripple the Commonwealth. The armed forces maintain a modest expeditionary capability — enough to intervene rapidly in crises like Haiti (2045) and the Congo (2065) — but their primary purpose is distributed defence of the republic system.

Armed Services #

The FED organises its forces into ten services across three functional groups: Marine Services (sea), Aeronautical and Astronautical Services (air and space), and Land and Army Services (ground).

Note

In numbered Vekllei services (e.g. Territorial & Air Services, etc.), numerical order is preserved and units are not permanently identified by a particular number. Unit numbers are administrative and assist in formation of interarmes services, so units may change numbers regularly. Instead, unit identity and honours are attached to ceremonial and historical names that remain with the unit.

Marine Services #

The Marine Services consist of the armed forces most commonly associated with seaborne warfare and supply. The distinction between the Maritime and Littoral Services is partly political — in wartime, the Littoral Service federalises into the Maritime Service entirely. In peacetime, the separation keeps law enforcement under parliamentary oversight rather than military command.

Maritime Service

The Maritime Service (the Navy or Navy of the Public) operates the Commonwealth’s surface ships and submarines across four fleet commands. It is detailed further in its dedicated article.

Capital Ships

1 Supercarrier (CVN Veletia)
4 Fleet Carriers (Volcanic-class)
2 Helicopter Carriers
1 Battleship (Federal-class)
4 Battlecruisers (Nike-class, armoured variant)

Cruisers (Universal Cruiser Hull)

2 Scout Cruisers (Nike-class)
5 Shock Cruisers (Nike-class)
2 Torpedo Cruisers (Nike-class)
6 Icebreaker Cruisers (Nike-class)
6 Aviation Cruisers (Prosperity-class)

Destroyers (Universal Destroyer Hull)

28 Escort Destroyers (Swordfish-class)
8 Shock Destroyers (Swordfish-class)
3 Arsenal Destroyers (Swordfish-class)

Frigates (Universal Frigate Hull)

83 Republic Frigates (Aurora-class)
16 Escort Frigates (Aurora-class)

Light Forces

24 Corvettes (Suffrage-class)
6 Mine Warfare Vessels (Hera-class)

Submarines

13 Attack Submarines (Capricorn-class)
6 Ballistic Missile Submarines (Mantle-class)

Auxiliary & Support

2 Arsenal Ships
4 Assault Ships
24 Landing Craft Vessels
40+ Support Vessels

Littoral Service

The Littoral Service (the Coast Guard or Navy of the Parliament) provides customs, policing and search and rescue across the Commonwealth’s territorial waters. It is detailed further in its dedicated article.

Customs Cutters

8 Heavy Customs Cutters (Universal Destroyer Hull)
20 Medium Customs Cutters (Universal Frigate Hull)
20 Fast Response Customs Hydrofoils
2 Air Cutters
10 Patrol Motor Launches
9 Search and Rescue Vessels
8 Fast Patrol Boats
16 Hovercraft Cutters

Utility Vessels

4 Seagoing Buoy Tenders
10 Coastal Buoy Tenders
4 Coastal Construction Tenders
5 River Tenders
1 Large Ocean Tugboat
2 Medium Ocean Tugboats
10 Harbour Tugboats

Icebreakers

4 Heavy Icebreakers ( Sude Oslola Helvasia Kala)
1 Ice-strengthened Oiler

Survey & Auxiliary Ships

2 Hydrographic Survey Ships

Coastal Artillery Service

The Coastal Artillery Service provides fixed and mobile coastal defence for Vekllei republics, covering harbour approaches, landing beaches and major sea lanes from hardened positions. Batteries are pre-registered on likely approach routes and capable of counter-battery fire against naval bombardment.

Coastal Batteries

24 Heavy Anti-Ship Missile Batteries (fixed emplacements)
36 Medium Coastal Defence Gun Positions
16 Mobile Anti-Ship Missile Launchers (truck-mounted)
8 Shore-Based Torpedo Batteries

Support Equipment

12 Fire Control Radar Stations
20 Observation Posts (integrated with Radar Service)
8 Coastal Defence Command Bunkers

Aeronautical & Astronautical Services #

The Air Services provide all aviation, air defence, radar coverage and strategic missile capability for the armed forces. The Air Service itself is detailed in its dedicated article.

Air Service

The Air Service conducts all aerial warfare and provides aviation support across the armed forces. It comprises three commands — Air Combat Command, Air Auxiliary Command and Air Transport Command — and is the only service in which women are a majority of combat participants, with female pilots contributing just over 52% of its aircrew.

Combat Aircraft

210 No. 8 Casemate Atomic Fighters
33 No. 7 Demon Atomic Fighters

Bombers

22 Strategic Bombers
16 Medium Bombers

Maritime and Patrol Aircraft

16 Long Range Search & Rescue Turboprop Aircraft
12 Maritime Patrol Flying Boats
8 Transport Flying Boats
4 Search & Rescue Flying Boats
6 Utility Seaplanes
50 Seagoing Utility Helicopters
4 Ground Effect Combat Aircraft

Tanker Aircraft

1 Nuclear Replenishment Aircraft
2 Airborne Fuel Replenishment Aircraft

Transport Aircraft

27 Heavy Transport Aircraft
22 Medium Transport Aircraft
18 VIP Transport
24 Strategic Airlifter
12 Tactical Airlifter
4 Ground Effect Heavy Airlifters

Helicopters

42 Attack Helicopters
52 Scout Helicopters
40 Heavy-lift/Utility
20 Anti-Submarine Warfare/Search and Rescue
60 Medium Transport/Utility
50 Light Transport/Utility

Trainer Aircraft

20 Primary Trainer Aircraft
15 Training Helicopters

Air Artillery Service

The Air Artillery Service provides ground-based air defence across Vekllei’s concentric defence zones. The service operates layered systems — long-range area defence missiles protecting major facilities, medium-range systems covering republic approaches, and short-range point defence for individual installations. Mobile systems can redeploy between islands by landing craft.

Long-Range Air Defence

12 Area Defence Missile Systems (fixed emplacements)
8 Mobile Long-Range SAM Batteries (truck-mounted)

Medium-Range Air Defence

25 No. 8 Javelin Medium-Range SAM Systems (truck-mounted)
15 Trailer-Mounted SAM Launchers

Short-Range/Point Defence

40 Short-Range Air Defence Systems (tracked carriers)
120 Towed Anti-Aircraft Guns (35mm/40mm)

Man-Portable Air Defence

1,000 Man-Portable SAM Launchers (militia distributed)

Radar Service

The Radar Service provides surveillance, early warning and electronic warfare coverage across the Commonwealth. Long-range radars and aerostat balloons maintain persistent coverage over the Atlantic and Caribbean approaches, while mobile systems deploy with expeditionary forces.

Surveillance Systems

5 Aerostat Radar Surveillance Balloons
12 Ground Active Electronically Scanned Array Stations
4 Medium Array Stations
6 Early Warning Aircraft (airborne)

Tactical Systems

40 Portable Search/Target Acquisition Radar
40 Counter-Battery Radar
20 Giraffe Array (mobile air surveillance)

Electronic Warfare

8 Radar Jamming Aircraft
4 Signals Interceptor Aircraft
2 Intelligence & Control Aircraft

Missiles Service

The Missiles Service operates the Commonwealth’s tactical and strategic missile forces, including the nuclear deterrent. Most launch sites are on isolated islands or in the Arctic, with some rail-mounted systems stationed inside tunnels. Vekllei maintains strategic ambiguity about its nuclear arsenal — the exact number of warheads is classified, though their existence is an open secret.

Ballistic Missiles

Estimated 16 No. 3 ICBMs
Estimated 40 No. 6 IRBMs
Estimated 26 No. 6 SRBMs
Estimated 100 No. 2 SLAM Cruise Missiles

Support

80 Multi-Purpose Utility Vehicles
12 Military Trucks

Land and Army Services #

The Territorial Service is Vekllei’s ground warfare component. All territorial personnel are trained as marine infantry — Vekllei does not maintain a separate marine corps — and every regiment is a self-contained combined-arms formation of ~1,030 personnel. The service fields approximately 50,000 professional soldiers across 35 line regiments and 6 commando regiments. It is detailed further in its dedicated article.

Territorial Service

The Territorial Service divides its 35 line regiments between Guards (fortress garrison, highest readiness) and Rifles (regional defence, mobile). All use the same combined-arms structure.

Organisation

Including commandos, provosts, patrol and support units, the professional force totals around 50,000. Including the Federal Components (militia/reservists) and General Auxiliary (volunteer partisan militia), wartime strength exceeds one million.

Expedition Guards (4 regiments)

Rapid-reaction force at highest readiness for overseas deployment.

Commonwealth Guards Fortress Lola Oslola
Parliamentary Guards Fortress Meteor Flores
Dorado Guards NS Kairi Kairi
Mira Guards NS Mira Mira

Fortress Guards (12 regiments)

Permanent garrison at strategic fortress complexes.

Demonic Guards • Sunburst Guards • Desert Guards • African Guards
Sentinel Guards • Falklander Guards • Sugar Guards • Ready Guards
Candle Guards • Meteor Guards • Iron Guards • Sude Guards

Commonwealth Rifles (19 regiments)

Regional defence covering multiple republics. Lower peacetime readiness, strategic depth.

Lucayan Rifles • Verden Rifles • Volcanic Rifles • Arctic Rifles • Antarctic Rifles
Antilles Rifles • Atlantic Rifles • Kalinan Rifles • Carib Rifles • Ascension Rifles
Summers Rifles • Helvasi Rifles • Java Rifles • Anguilla Rifles • Verdean Rifles
Bahaman Rifles • Curaçao Rifles • Boreal Rifles • Flores Rifles

Commonwealth Commandos (6 regiments)

Polar Commandos • Equatorial Commandos • Insular Commandos
Airborne Commandos • Marine Commandos • 6th Special Activities Regiment

Commonwealth Federal Components

Federal militia and primary reserve force. All servicemen belong to a Guards regiment in their home republic but serve in active units. Components of ~100 conscripts per republic form the link between civilian republics and the military.

Commonwealth General Auxiliary

Volunteer partisan militia. Raised and organised by gendarmes of the Commonwealth Constabulary. Wartime strength exceeds one million. Home defence only.

Commonwealth Provosts

Military police providing base security, criminal investigation and policing for enlisted servicemen.

1st Parliamentary Provost Regiment
2nd Industrial Provost Regiment
3rd Fortress Provost Regiment
4th Naval Provost Regiment
5th Strategic Provost Regiment
6th Investigative Provost Regiment
7th Field Provost Regiment

Commonwealth Patrol Service

Armed border force. Patrol servicemen hold police commissions under the Constabulary’s endorsement system, granting authority to enforce customs, immigration and criminal law.

8 regional patrol sections

Field Artillery Service

The Field Artillery Service provides fire support for the Territorial Service, with emphasis on mobile systems that can redeploy between islands. Heavy self-propelled guns support expeditionary operations, while towed howitzers equip republic garrisons and militia formations. Rocket artillery provides area-effect firepower for concentrated defensive operations.

Field Artillery

1st-5th Cannons Regiments

Artillery Equipment

52 Rocket Artillery (multiple-launch)
105 Self-Propelled Artillery (155mm)
120 155mm Towed Howitzer
80 105mm Towed Howitzer
75 Ceremonial Gun-Howitzer
36 120mm Heavy Mortars
200 81mm Medium Mortars (militia distributed)

Signals Service

The Signals Service provides communications, electronic intelligence and command-and-control infrastructure for the armed forces. Its aircraft monitor electronic emissions across the Atlantic and Caribbean, while ground stations maintain secure communications between the 83 republics.

Aircraft

4 Signals Interceptor Aircraft
2 Intelligence & Control Aircraft
6 Early Warning Aircraft

Ground Systems

12 Strategic Communications Stations
83 Republic Communications Nodes
40 Tactical Communications Sets (mobile)

The ’navy’ as described here is separate from the Maritime Service, which comprises the naval fleets of Vekllei. It is a broader term distinct from the maritime and littoral services. ↩︎