The branches of the

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

are the

Royal Bhutan Army The Royal Bhutan Army (RBA; dz, བསྟན་སྲུང་དམག་སྡེ་, bStan-srung dmag-sde) is a branch of the armed forces of the Kingdom of Bhutan responsible for maintaining the country's territorial integrity and sovereign ...

(RBA),

Royal Bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, ...

s, and

Royal Bhutan Police The Royal Bhutan Police ( dz, རྒྱལ་གཞུང་འབྲུག་གི་འགག་སྡེ་; ) is the national police force of the Kingdom of Bhutan. It is responsible for maintaining law and order and prevention of crime i ...

. Being a

landlocked country A landlocked country is a country that does not have territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie on endorheic basin, endorheic basins. There are currently 44 landlocked countries and 4 landlocked list of states with limited recogni ...

, Bhutan does not have a

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

or an

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 a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

is responsible for military training, arms supplies and the air defense of Bhutan. Bhutan's army is trained by the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...

Air support

The RBA relies on the Eastern Air Command of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

for air assistance. In recent years India has helped Bhutan start to develop its military in all areas through military donations and training. Total 8,000 Army personnel. Historically, on 1 of January 1971 the Government of Bhutan decided to increase military personnel to 4,850 by recruiting additional 600-700 recruits and stricter regulations on liberation from service.

helicopters evacuated RBA casualties to India for treatment during

Operation All Clear Operation All Clear was a military operation conducted by Royal Bhutan Army forces against Assam separatist insurgent groups in the southern regions of Bhutan between 15 December 2003 and 3 January 2004. It was the first operation ever conducted ...

in 2003.

References

*''This article was adapted from the

CIA World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available ...

2010.'' {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020