The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF; , ) is

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

's national military force. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief is

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Norodom Sihamoni Norodom Sihamoni (, ; born 14 May 1953) is King of Cambodia. He became King on 14 October 2004, a week after the abdication of his father, Norodom Sihanouk. He is the eldest son of King Sihanouk and former Queen consort Norodom Monineath and ...

. Since 2018, General Vong Pisen has been the Commander-in-Chief of the RCAF as head of the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

and the

Gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

. The armed forces operate under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defence. Under the country's constitution, the RCAF is charged with protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia. It was created in 1993 by a merger of the Cambodian People's Armed Forces (CPAF) and the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea (NADK) which included the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...

, the Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) and the National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia (, FUNCINPEC). The forerunner of the CPAF was the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (KPRAF), established in 1979 with support from the

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...

(PAVN).

History

Royal Khmer Armed Forces (FARK)

Khmer National Armed Forces (FANK)

Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea (RAK)

Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (KPRAF)

Cambodian People's Armed Forces (CPAF)

Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF)

The RCAF was established in 1993 after the democratic election of a government consisting of two prime ministers. The armed forces of all parties except the NADK were integrated into a national armed force. To resolve security problems, the government began a "Win-Win policy" in mid-1995 of national reconciliation and unity efforts under the

Monarchy of Cambodia The monarchy of Cambodia is the constitutional monarchy of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The king of Cambodia () is the head of state and head of the ruling Royal House of Norodom. In the contemporary period, the king's power has been limited t ...

. Defections of NADK units began in early 1996 up until the death of Pol Pot in 1998.

Branches

The RCAF has four branches: the Royal Cambodian Army, the Royal Cambodian Navy, the

Royal Cambodian Air Force The Royal Cambodian Air Force ( ; ) is the branch of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces which is charged with operating all military aircraft in Cambodia. Organisation The Royal Cambodian Air Force is commanded by General Soeung Samnang, who h ...

and the Royal Gendarmerie of Cambodia. The Royal Cambodian Army (RCA) is the largest RCAF branch, with troops stationed in each of the country's 25

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

. The Royal Cambodian Navy (RCN), the second-largest branch and operates in the

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand (), historically known as the Gulf of Siam (), is a shallow inlet adjacent to the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. ...

, along the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of and a drainage area of , discharging of wat ...

and Bassac rivers and in the

Tonlé Sap Tonlé Sap (; , ; or commonly translated as 'Great Lake') is a lake in the northwest of Cambodia. Belonging to the Mekong, Mekong River system, Tonlé Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and one of the most diverse and prod ...

lake. The Royal Cambodian Air Force (RCAF), the smallest service branch with 5,000 members, operates in every province which has an airport.Ian Ramage, Strong Fighting: Sexual Behavior and HIV/AIDS in the Cambodian Uniformed Services, 2002 The Royal Gendarmerie is the national

gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

force of the Kingdom of Cambodia. It is a branch of the RCAF and it is responsible for the maintenance of public order and internal security. It has a strength of 30,000 members deployed in all provinces.