During the summer months of 2025, the Austrian Armed Forces expanded its childcare offerings for employees and simultaneously completed important infrastructure projects for the training of its special forces and the modernization of the Theresian Military Academy. These initiatives underscore the Armed Forces' commitment to both promoting the compatibility of work and family life and improving its operational capabilities and training standards.
In the area of childcare, the Austrian Armed Forces offers childcare for over 20 children aged three to twelve during the summer months at 765 locations in seven federal states, including Vienna, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Salzburg, and Tyrol. The children are divided into 32 groups and cared for by a qualified service provider. This service, which has existed since 2008, has been expanded in recent years due to steadily increasing demand. Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner emphasized the necessity of this service to relieve the burden on employees and enable children to spend time together in the summer. The Austrian Armed Forces plans to further expand this service in the future to ensure optimal work-life balance.
Alongside the childcare facilities, two major infrastructure projects were completed. On July 4, 2025, the new diving base at Lake Neufeld was officially opened. This unique facility in Austria serves the Special Forces Command (Jagdkommando) for the training of its combat swimmers and combat divers. After nine months of construction, the 550 m² building replaces a dilapidated older structure and offers modern infrastructure for training and operations, including a boat garage with direct lake access and a new jetty. The investment amounted to €2.5 million. The Special Forces Command, as a special operations unit of the Austrian Armed Forces, operates under extreme conditions and is deployable worldwide, making such specialized training facilities essential.
Furthermore, on the same day, two new buildings were officially inaugurated at the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt . The construction project comprised a new residential building built using modular timber construction and a multifunctional service building constructed using solid materials, for which the Austrian Armed Forces invested a total of €45.6 million. The residential building provides accommodation for 220 people in 103 double and 12 single modules, as well as two accessible modules, with construction costs of approximately €29.5 million. The service building, designed to accommodate over 600 people, houses a central catering facility, the clothing and equipment depot, and several specialized workshops. Its construction costs amounted to approximately €16.1 million. Both projects, the planning for which began in 2021 and the start of construction in June 2023, are intended to expand the Austrian Armed Forces' infrastructure in a future-oriented manner and meet the increasing demands for training, operational readiness, and support.