The Imperial and Royal Armed Forces (Kaiserliche und Königliche Bewaffnete Macht/Císařské a královské ozbrojené síly) are the armed forces of the Danubian Confederation. They are divided into several branches, the first of which is the Imperial and Royal Army (Kaiserliche und Königliche Armee/Císařská a královská armáda).
Unlike in the old Dual Monarchy, the Confederation's armed forces are not internally divided into multiple branches belonging to several states, but serve as one army for one federal state. Separate designations for regiments still exist, Imperial and Royal (kaiserlich und königlich/k.u.k., cesarski i królewski/c.i.k.), used for common regiments recruited from throughout the country, Imperial-Austrian (kaiserlich-österreichisch/k.ö., císařsko-rakouský/c.r.) for units recruited from Austria, and Royal-Bohemian for units recruited in Czechia (königlich-böhmisch/k.b., královský-bohémský/k.b.), but these are just general naming conventions. German speakers and Czech speakers can be recruited in all three kinds of regiments depending on where they live, and the language of instruction and command remains German. The Imperial and Royal Army is a modern and well equipped force, strong compared to its position and numbers, and well known for its efficient organization and command structure, with many of the lessons from their defeat in the Great War well learned. The army has a peacetime strength of 235,980 men, organized in 23 infantry divisions and 6 mobile/fast divisions. Regular infantry divisions have an artillery regiment and support units, and have mortars, machine guns and anti-tank guns as support, and two of the infantry divisions are motorized. The mobile divisions are composed of motorized and cavalry brigades, include a bicycle and horse artillery battalion each, and have most of the tanks in Danubian service.
In times of war, through a mobilization, the army can increase its size to 1,342,390 or even 1,766,400 if a general mobilization were to be ordered, organized in 46 infantry divisions, two of which would be motorized, and the above mentioned 6 mobile divisions. Future plans include the addition of at least two more motorized and two more fast divisions. There would be six headquarters in charge of organizing the army, representing Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Styria ,Carinthia and Istria.
The army is generally equipped with domestically produced items. The standard pistol is the Pistole vz. 24/P24, slowly being replaced by the semi-automatic ČZ vz. 27/ P27. The main rifle is the bolt-action vz. 24/Gewehr 24, and the semi-automatic ZH-29 is in use with some units, particularly the motorized infantry. Two different submachine guns awere experimented on, the ZK-383 and the KP vz. 38, but only the latter is being introduced to military units. The ZK-383 was produced in small numbers as a prototype and was mostly sold abroad. Generally, units use the LK vz. 26 or the modernized ZB vz. 30 as their light machine guns, while units using heavy machine guns use the modern TK vz. 37 or the older Schwarzlose. The ZB-50 and ZB-60 are used as even heavier machine guns, usually in AA scenarios. The vz. 36 is the standard infantry mortar, while the artillery is very varied, and entirely domestic, generally produced by Škoda. In terms of armor, the core of the Danubian program is represented by the LT vz. 35/Panzer 35, of which the k.u.k. Armee has 300 units. 69 units of the lighter LT vz. 34/Panzer 34 are also still in use, while the army also has 96 Tč vz. 33 tankettes, usually assigned as support units to the infantry divisions, and around 100 armored cars of different models.
The Imperial and Royal Army also benefits from an extensive system of fortifications. Some, like the defensive complexes in the Alps on the border with Italy, are a legacy of the Great War, while others, like the border fortifications in Bohemia and Moravia, are relatively modern constructions, generally based on minefields, pillboxes and forts. The successful defense of the Italian front throughout the Great War, and the failures experienced in other fronts, combined with a real and pragmatic perspective forced upon the empire by its fall from the position of a great power and led its general strategy towards one of general defense, whereas the enemy would be forced to waste its forces attacking fortified areas, after which the Danubian forces would counterattack, with the fast divisions serving either as the core of their attacks, or being used as mobile reserves if any segment of the front would have been broken prior to this. The army also has 6 lower quality infantry units, known as Grenzers, manning these fortifications, and the Confederation can also call upon the equivalent of 19 divisions in improvised battalions of uniformed men, like border guards, railway guards and gendarmes, which can also be used to man the fortifications.
The second branch is the Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops (Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen, Císařské a královské letecké sbory). In theory, it has around 1794 planes in its records, however, from those, only around 897 are first-line planes, and only about 717 and actually operational. Most of the Confederation's planes are built domestically, having evolved from its early years in which it was only using licensed designs. Aero and Avia are the two largest producers, with theAvia B-534 biplane being the main fighter, while a project for a low-wing monoplane, the Avia B.35 do exist. Significant efforts are also made to modernize the bomber force, with the Aero A.304 and Aero A.300. The Danubian Air Force is a well trained and competent force, but it is somewhat held back by its bloated number of second-line planes and by the fact that the complacency of the past decades has somewhat slowed down its development of new planes, which means that the force as a whole has started to quickly attempt to catch up in the last few years with a modernization program in process.
The third branch is the Imperial and Royal War Navy (Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine, Císařské a královské válečné námořnictvo). In terms of sheer numbers of vessels, it seems to be a very imposing force, with 6 battleships, 8 cruisers, 28 destroyers, 80 torpedo boats and 10 submarines, however, most of these ships are terribly outdated and aren't in working condition. The Danubian Kriegsmarine has inherited most of the Austro-Hungarian ships which have survived the war, in its naval base at Pula. The new geopolitical reality which limited the Habsburg rule to a rump state with a minimal coast in Istria and Triest led to the naval budget being slashed, and remaining low for the entire time since. As such, only a few ships in the navy remain operational, and only a few of them have been modernized, with the current naval command focusing the most on using torpedo boats for defensive maneuvers.