The Kyrgyz Ground Forces, also commonly known as the Kyrgyz Army is the infantry branch of the

Armed Forces of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan The Armed Forces of the Kyrgyz Republic (; Kyrǵyz Respublikasynyn Kuralduu Küctörü) is the national military of Kyrgyzstan. It was originally formed from the former Soviet forces of the Turkestan Military District stationed in newly independe ...

History

In April 1992, Kyrgyzstan formed a State Committee for Defense Affairs, and in June the republic took control of all troops on its soil (meaning remaining units of the stationed in Kyrgyzstan). In 1994, 30 percent of the officer corps were ethnic Russians. The first commander was General Valentin Luk'yanov, an ethnic Ukrainian. On January 25, 2017, President

Almazbek Atambayev Almazbek Sharshen uluu Atambayev ( ky, Алмазбек Шаршен уулу Атамбаев, translit=Almazbek Şarşen uulu Atambayev; born 17 September 1956) is a Kyrgyz politician who served as the President of Kyrgyzstan from 1 December 2 ...

officially founded the Kyrgyz Army, with Colonel

Erlis Terdikbayev Erlis Jekshenovich Terdikbayev ( ky, Эрлис Джекшенович Тердикбаев; born 27 May 1969) is a Kyrgyzstani General and the current Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Kyrgyzstan. Early life and education Erl ...

acting as its first commander.

Structure

Ground forces are divided into 2 military commands, the Northern and Southern Groups of Forces.

Northern Group of Forces

* 8th Guards Motor Rifle ''Panfilov'' Division (

Tokmok Tokmok ( ky, Токмок, lit=hammer; russian: Токмак, Tokmak) is a city in the Chüy Valley, northern Kyrgyzstan, east of the country's capital of Bishkek, with a population of 71,443 in 2021. Its elevation is 816 m above sea level. From ...

) * 2nd Guards Motor Rifle ''Frunze'' Brigade (

Koy-Tash Koy-Tash is a village in the Alamüdün District of Chüy Region of Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to ...

) * Independent Tank Regiment * Machine Gun Battalions (

Karakol Karakol ( ky, Каракол, Karakol, قاراقول, ; zh, 卡拉科尔), formerly Przhevalsk (russian: Пржевальск), is the fourth-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, near the eastern tip of Lake Issyk-Kul, about from the Kyrgyzstan–C ...

) * Artillery Battalions (

Naryn Naryn ( ky, Нарын, translit=Naryn, Mongolian : Нарийн, Nariin, Traditional Mongolian ᠨᠠᠷᠢᠨ) is the regional administrative center of Naryn Region in central Kyrgyzstan. Its area is , and its estimated population was 41,17 ...

) * Engineering Battalion * Signals Battalion *

Scorpion 25th Special Forces Brigade The Scorpion 25th Special Forces Brigade () or known simply as Scorpion Spetsnaz (''Спецназ Скорпион'') is a specialized Kyrgyz military unit in the country's Ground Forces. It is now considered to be one of the best armed formatio ...

(

) * Artillery Brigade * Balykchynsky Brigade * Specialized units

Southern Group of Forces

* 68th Independent Mountain Rifle Brigade (

Osh Osh (Kyrgyz: Ош, romanised Osh; uz, O‘sh/Ўш) is the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, located in the Fergana Valley in the south of the country and often referred to as the "capital of the south". It is the oldest city in the country (e ...

)ЦЕНТРАЛЬНО-АЗИАТСКИЙ РУБЕЖ ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ ДОГОВОРА О КОЛЛЕКТИВНОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ
/ref> * Armored Battalion ( Ala-Buka District) * Machine Gun and Artillery Battalion * Mountain Rifle Battalion "Batken" * 24th Independent "Ilbirs" (Snow Leopard) Special Purpose Brigade ( Kök-Janggak)Десантные части и соединен
/ref> * Reconnaissance Battalion * anti-aircraft artillery regiment * parts and subdivisions of support, chemical protection, etc.

Equipment

Weapons

Makarov PM The Makarov pistol or PM ( rus, Пистоле́т Мака́рова, r=Pistolét Makárova, p=pʲɪstɐˈlʲet mɐˈkarəvə, t=Makarov's Pistol) is a Soviet semi-automatic pistol. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it ...

9×18mm – sidearm *

AKM The AKM () is an assault rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1959. It is the most ubiquitous rifle of the Kalashnikov rifles. It was developed as a replacement to the AK-47 introduced a decade prior. Introduc ...

7.62×39mm The 7.62×39mm (aka 7.62 Soviet, formerly .30 Russian Short) round is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge of Soviet origin. The cartridge is widely used due to the worldwide proliferation of Russian SKS and AK-47 pattern rifles, as ...

– service rifle *

AK-74 The AK-74 (Russian: , tr. ''Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1974 goda'', lit. 'Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974) is an assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1974. While primarily associated with the Soviet U ...

5.45×39mm – service rifle *

RPK The RPK (russian: Ручной пулемёт Калашникова/РПК, Ruchnoy Pulemyot Kalashnikova, link=no, English: "Kalashnikov hand-held machine gun"), sometimes retroactively termed the RPK-47, is a Soviet 7.62×39mm light machine ...

7.62×39mm – light machine gun *

SVD ''Svenska Dagbladet'' (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of ''Svenska Dagbladet'' appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the ...

7.62×54mmR The 7.62×54mmR is a rimmed rifle cartridge developed by the Russian Empire and introduced as a service cartridge in 1891. Originally designed for the bolt-action Mosin–Nagant rifle, it was used during the late tsarist era and throughout th ...

– marksman/sniper rifle * SKS 7.62×39mm – ceremonial rifle * M4 carbine 5.56×45mm – service rifle and in service * MKE JNG-90 7.62×51mm – sniper rifle * HAR-66 –

rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are a ...

and in service *

QBZ-95 The Type 95 automatic rifle () or QBZ-95 is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured by Norinco, and issued since 1995 as the service rifle for the People's Liberation Army, People's Armed Police and various paramilitary law enforcemen ...

–

Armor

References

Military of Kyrgyzstan {{Kyrgyzstan-gov-stub