The Armenian Ground Forces () is the collective term for personnel branches of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military ...

of the

Armed Forces of Armenia The Armed Forces of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի զինված ուժեր, Hayastani zinvats uzher), sometimes referred to as the Armenian Army ( hy, Հայկական Բանակ, Haykakan Banak), is the national military of Armenia. It consist ...

that are responsible for the country's land-based operations. It was established in conjunction with the other components of Armenia's military on January 28, 1992, several months after the republic declared its independence from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

.Balance in Europe 2011".
March 07, 2011. The army's first head was the former deputy commander-in-chief of the main staff of the

Soviet Ground Forces uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

Norat Ter-Grigoryants Norat Grigoryevich Ter-Grigoryants ( hy, Նորատ Գրիգորիի Տեր-Գրիգորյանց, russian: Нора́т Григо́рьевич Тер-Григорья́нц; born 16 July 1936) is a retired Soviet and Armenian lieutenant-general ...

. Since the end of the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 t ...

, Armenia has committed many elements of the army to help bolster the defense and defend the unrecognized

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (),, is a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Artsakh controls a part of the former ...

from a possible renewal of hostilities with neighboring

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. ''Jane's World Armies'' reports that both conscripts and officers from Armenia are routinely sent for duty to Artsakh, often posted to the frontline between Artsakh Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. Equipment in the ground forces is regulated by the Military Industry Committee under the

Armenian Government The politics of Armenia take place in the framework of the parliamentary representative democratic republic of Armenia, whereby the President of Armenia is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Armenia the head of government, and of a mul ...

History

The Armenian army's history is described to have gone through three stages of development.Ministry of Defense of Armenia
General History of the Armenian Army
. Retrieved January 31, 2006. It entered the first stage in February 1988, from the beginning of the

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaij ...

, when Armenian militias were formed to combat

i units in Artsakh. On 20 September 1990, the first military unit was created, the Yerevan Special Regiment, with the first oath being held in the Republican Assembly Point and was attended by the first President of Armenia

Levon Ter-Petrosyan Levon Hakobi Ter-Petrosyan ( hy, Լևոն Հակոբի Տեր-Պետրոսյան; born 9 January 1945), also known by his initials LTP, is an Armenian politician who served as the first president of Armenia from 1991 until his resignation in 1998 ...

, Prime Minister Vazgen Manukyan,

Vazgen Sargsyan Vazgen Zaveni Sargsyan ( hy, Վազգեն Զավենի Սարգսյան, ; 5 March 1959 – 27 October 1999) was an Armenian military commander and politician. He was the first Defence Minister of Armenia from 1991 to 1992 and then from ...

. The second phase of the development of the army began in 1992, several months after Armenia declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Ter-Grigoryants and civilian officials in the Armenian Ministry of Defense, including Vazgen Manukyan and

, sought to establish a "small, well-balanced, combat-ready defense force." The third phase began after the end of the war and continues to today. Most of the army's staff officers were members of the former Soviet military. An estimated 5,000 Armenians were serving as high-level officers in the military at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Almost immediately after its independence, Armenia was embroiled in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War with neighboring

. Intending to establish a force of 30,000 men, the army's standing force increased to 50,000 by early 1994. During the war, the military remained on high alert and bolstered defenses in the region of

Zangezur Zangezur ( hy, Զանգեզուր) is a historical and geographical region in Eastern Armenia on the slopes of the Zangezur Mountains which largely corresponds to the Syunik Province of the Republic of Armenia. It was ceded to Russia by Qajar I ...

, opposite the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan. Purported artillery bombardment in May 1992 from the region led to skirmishes between the two sides, including the Armenian army's incursion into several villages into Nakhichevan. The Armenian government invited

to assume command of the Ground Forces in 1992.Harutyunyan, Mark (29 October 1992). "Steps for Creation of Army Urged". In Brzezinski, Zbigniew & Paige Sullivan (Eds.)
''Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States: Documents, Data, and Analysis''
pp. 222-223. Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1997. . The position of the overall Armenian Ground Forces commander was phased out in the course of the ongoing military reform by

. His development of the ground forces emphasized the role of motorized brigades to allow for operational mobility and flexibility. Since 1994, the army has taken an active role in ensuring the defense of the

in conjunction with the Artsakh Defense Army.See Richard Giragosian,
Armenia and Karabakh: One Nation, Two States
." '' AGBU Magazine''. № 1, Vol. 19, May 2009, pp. 12-13. In conjunction with its strategic allies, Armenia has sent over 1,500 officers to be trained in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. The Armenian Ministry of Defense also established in 2004 a joint partnership with the

Kansas National Guard The Kansas National Guard, is the component of the United States National Guard in the U.S. state of Kansas. It comprises both the Kansas Army National Guard and the Kansas Air National Guard. The Governor of Kansas is Commander-in-Chief of the Ka ...

in order to exchange knowledge and facilitate cooperation in national security and civilian affairs. It also signed a military cooperation plan with

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

on November 27, 2015.

Structure

Armenian soldiers at the Vazgen Sargsyan Military Institute

Field Forces

* 1st Army Corps (HQ

Goris Goris ( hy, Գորիս) is a town and the centre of the urban community of Goris, in Syunik Province at the south of Armenia. Located in the valley of the Goris (or Vararak) River, it is 254 km from the Armenian capital Yerevan and 67 ...

):''Jane's World Armies''. Coulsdon, Surrey, UK: Jane's Information Group, October 2004. one independent tank battalion, one independent reconnaissance battalion, two motor rifle regiments. * 2nd Army Corps (HQ Khachaghbyur): one independent tank battalion, one independent reconnaissance battalion, one independent rifle regiment, two independent motor rifle regiments, one independent artillery battalion. * 3rd Army Corps (HQ

Vanadzor Vanadzor ( hy, Վանաձոր) is an urban municipal community and the third-largest city in Armenia, serving as the capital of Lori Province in the northern part of the country. It is located about north of the capital Yerevan. As of the 2011 cen ...

): one independent rifle regiment, one independent artillery battalion, one independent tank battalion, one independent reconnaissance battalion, one independent rocket artillery battalion, four independent motor rifle regiments, one maintenance battalion, one signals battalion. * 4th Army Corps (HQ

Yeghegnadzor Yeghegnadzor ( hy, Եղեգնաձոր) is a town and urban municipal community in southern Armenia, serving as the provincial capital of Vayots Dzor Province. It is located at a road distance of 123 km south of the capital Yerevan, on the s ...

): four independent motor rifle regiments, an independent self-propelled artillery battalion, one signals battalion. * 5th Army Corps (HQ

Nubarashen Nubarashen ( hy, Նուբարաշեն վարչական շրջան, translit=Nubarashen Varchagan Shrchan), is one of the 12 districts of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. It is situated at the southeastern part of the city. It is bordered by Shen ...

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

): two

fortified region A fortified district or fortified region (russian: Укреплённый район, Укрепрайон, ukreplyonny raion, ukrepraion) in the military terminology of the Soviet Union, is a territory within which a complex system of defense fo ...

s, one independent motor rifle regiment, one independent rifle regiment.

Army-level Troops

The army also has the following army level units: *228th Air & Air Defense Command (Jane's World Armies mentions an Army Air and Air Defence at Chobankara) **Surface to Air Missile Brigade **Surface to Air Missile Regiment **Surface to Air Missile Regiment **Radio-Technical Regiment * 535th Training Motor Rifle Brigade * 1st Special Forces Regiment (

) *One surface-to-air missile brigade *Two surface-to-air missile regiments *One artillery brigade *One radiotechnical (radar) regiment *7th Fortified Area (

Gyumri Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

) *538th Motor Rifle Regiment (Aghdaban) *One self-propelled artillery regiment *One anti-tank regiment *One engineer regiment with demining centre

Special Forces

The Armenian military's special forces include a standard army special forces regiment (now grown into a brigade), and 3+ reconnaissance battalions. The operational history surrounding all the aforementioned groups are not known. The operations that are known and are outside of standard duties such as intelligence gathering include: * Unknown number of cross-border raids * The securing of the Armenian pilots remains and helicopter parts after the shoot down of an Artsakh helicopter The special forces of both republics are allowed fast-attack vehicles to conduct some operations and exercises. Special Forces Day is celebrated on 5 November.

March

Our name is Armenian Army ( hy, Մեր անունն է հայկական բանակ, tr, Mer anunn e haykakan banak) is an Armenian military march that serves as the army anthem. The song is part of the traditional repertoire of the Band of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. The march is composed of the following verses: Orbitu puts the new stone on the old. Our name is the Armenian builder, Sowing and downpour. Our name is the fair Armenian farmer, His child should know his writing May the Armenian mind live forever. Our hearts are always strong, fiery, Our swords are always strong, sharp, And let everyone know Our name is the Armenian army. The ark of our millennial Armenian history It has taken us around the world, Our dear cradle calls us back: Always faithful to his longing, This new century will be ours: In a brightly lit way. Our hearts are always strong, fiery, Our swords are always strong and sharp And let everyone know Our name is the Armenian army Our ancestral Armenian lands We will keep night and day, Let all Armenian mothers sleep peacefully, We will monitor their peace. Father Hayk's land handed over to us We will inherit our children. Our hearts are always strong, fiery, Our swords are always strong, sharp, And let everyone know Our name is the Armenian army. The seal of our millennial Armenian history We carry it forever May the Armenian sky always be peaceful And the mountains are fiery Even if it is required, we will give our lives For the glory of our homeland. Our hearts are always strong, fiery Our swords are always strong, sharp And let everyone know Our name is the Armenian army.

Notes

External links

Ministry of Defence of Armenia
{{Armies in Europe Armies by country Military of Armenia Military units and formations established in 1992