Royal Cambodian Army

The Royal Cambodian Army is a part of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. It has ground forces which numbered about 75,000 divided into eleven divisions of infantry, with integrated armour and artillery support. The Royal Army is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defence.

Military organization
Under the current military plan and divisions, every military region (one per region)has a full strength of 3,500 soldiers. Each division will be supplemented by a mobile reinforcement division in Phnom Penh. The country is divided into six, until recently five, military regions, each comprising three or four provinces. There are garrisons in major cities and major army bases.

General Meas Sophea is the commander of the Royal Cambodian Army. He is also the Deputy Commander in Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

The forces are deployed as required across the country and in operations, with bases as follows:


 * Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Headquarters, Phnom Penh
 * First Military Region HQ, Stung Treng
 * Second Military Region HQ, Kompong Cham
 * Third Military Region HQ, Kampong Speu
 * Fourth Military Region HQ, Siem Reap
 * Fifth Military Region HQ, Battambang
 * Sixth (Special) Military Region HQs, Phnom Penh/Pailin/Kompong Thom
 * Seventh Military Region HQs, Preah Vihear

Every Military Region is under the command of a Major General, assisted by a Chief of staff with a rank of a Brigadier General. In every province, there is a military base called Military Operation Zone under the command of a Colonel.

In 2009, several three-star Generals, including General Hing Bun Hieng, were promoted to four-star Generals, along with the promotion of provincial commanders of Gendarmerie,military and police commissioner to Brigadier Generals. It has been noted that such promotion was an honor bestowed by the government for their effort in the Cambodian-Thai military standoff.

Special Forces Airborne
The Operation Base of the special forces airborne 911 unit (SF-911) is near the takethmey village, Kambol Commune, Angsnoul District, Kandal Province. This Unit is under direct command of the High Command Headquarter of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. The SF-911 have seven branches with 14 battalions under their control.

Following units is distributed in the Battalions: Total staff 6,500
 * Commando 1 to Commando 4 (Airborne Commando)
 * Commando 5 to Commando 9 (Attack Commando)
 * Commando 10 to Commando 12 (Support Commando)
 * Special Group 13 Close Protection
 * Counter terrorist 14 Group

Counter terrorist 14 Group is Cambodians first specialized anti terrorist unit. And is SF-911 SWAT component. Counter terrorist 14 Group support law enforcement in anti terrorist operations

The SF regularly conduct trainings and joint exercises such as:
 * Special forces 6 course (commando Red Barret)


 * Airborne 11 Course (para)


 * Freefall 3 Course


 * Scuba 3 Course (Chhak Sea)


 * Terrorist Counter 3 Course (T.O)


 * Training has also been conducted in Indonesia under a special program at Batujajar. Batujajar military training center is located 22 kilometers from Bandung (West Java), where SF soldiers have been trained in parachute jumping and Landing zone tactics.

CHHAB PEAKDEY is the Commanding officer for the SF-911.

Army ranks

 * Senior General
 * General
 * Lieutenant General
 * Major General
 * Brigadier General
 * Colonel
 * Lieutenant Colonel
 * Major
 * Captain
 * Lieutenant
 * Second Lieutenant
 * Chief Warrant Officer
 * Warrant Officer
 * Command Sergeant Major
 * First Sergeant
 * Staff Sergeant
 * Sergeant
 * Corporal
 * First Class Soldier
 * Second Class Soldier

Military Police


The Gendarmarie, or "Military Police (PM)", is a paramilitary unit about 10,000 soldiers deployed in all 24 provinces of Cambodia, and is responsible for monitoring all of the units of Gendarmerie including general training. Its headquarters is located in Phnom Penh, with the unit's chain of command under the Royal Cambodia Armed Forces High Command,  The Gendarmerie is under the direct supervision of a commander with an equivalent rank to Lieutenant-General. The current commander of Gendarmerie is General Sao Sokha, a fomer bodyguard and personal advisor to Cambodian Prime minister Hun Sen.

As a branch of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, Gendarmerie is under the direct control of the Ministry of National Defense and the Royal Cambodian High Command. Although, the Gendarmarie does not have a regional division like the military, it does have provincial division.

The Gendarmerie monitors all the 24 provinces and 186 districts, working with the local people. The Gendarmerie includes: a mobile team, consisting of six intervention units; an intervention vehicle battalion, a cavalry and other 4 infantries, based in Phnom Penh. The Gendarmerie training school is located in Khum Kombol, Kandal Province.

The number of soldiers in the army's special forces is as follows
 * Bodyguard Unit: 5,000 soldiers
 * 911 Parachute Regiment: 5,000 soldiers
 * Gendarmarie "Military Police": 10,000 soldiers

Equipment
The main combat weapons used by the army are illustrated in the table below. As of June 2010, it is assessed that about 300 of the APCs are to be fully operational.

Main military
Operational art and tactical doctrine is still being defined as the process of reform continues. Ostensibly, the continuing military reorganization will provide integrated armored support for each of the regional infantry divisions. However, much of Cambodia's terrain does not lend itself to armored operations and tanks are rendered unusable during the rainy season. All the OT-64 APCs have apparently gone to the Phnom Penh reserve force.

In the 1990s, in order to make the army more mobile and mechanized, there was a steady influx of new tanks, self-propelled artillery, armored personnel carriers (APCs), and trucks. The ground forces seldom retire old models of weapons and tend to maintain a large equipment stock, keeping old models along with upgraded ones in the active force or in reserve. The army remains largely an infantry force, although a decade-long modernization program has significantly improved the mobility and firepower of its active forces.

Equipment for the main force units was furnished by Vietnam, China, and by the Soviet Union. Armaments consisted of small arms of Soviet origin, including the AKM (updated version of the AK-47) assault rifle, RPD light machine gun, PKM general-purpose machine gun, RPG-2 82mm rocket-propelled grenade, RPG-7 85mm rocket-propelled grenade, Chinese Type 56 assault rifle, and various crew-served weapons, including towed medium howitzers, and air-defense weapons in several calibers. Tanks in the RCAF armored battalions included the T-54/55, an old, but capable, main battle tank of Soviet origin; the obsolete PT-76/Type 63 light amphibious tank; and the Type-59, an older Chinese main battle tank, probably handed down from Vietnamese stocks. Multiple rocket launcher in main force included BM-14 and BM-21. Armored fighting vehicles in the main force inventory consisted of the Soviet BTR series of wheeled vehicles, and some aging American equipment, such as: M106 armored carriers and M113 armored personnel carriers, either bequeathed by Vietnam or left behind from the days of the Khmer Republic.

Special forces
The special forces' equipment varies from that of the rest of the army. For example, the AK-47 (Type 56) rifle, although reliable and abundant, is not accurate, and is too powerful for safe use by elite units specializing in close quarters combat and hostage situations.

The forces are the first confirmed foreign user of the new Chinese QBZ-95 series of a bullpup assault rifles. Technically this rifle is a QBZ-97, a Type 97A added 3-round burst mode and bolt hold-open device, with a different casing made by Jian She Group for export.

Peacekeeping Operations
The RCAF has sent RCAF personnel to various hotspots as part of the Kingdom of Cambodia's role as a member of the United Nations. Mostly engineers and logistical units, as well as Military Police and members of the paramilitary Armed Police have been sent to peacekeeping operations such as:


 * Central African Republic
 * Congo
 * Sudan
 * Chad
 * Haiti