Kyrgyz Army

The Kyrgyz Ground Forces, or simply the Kyrgyz Army, is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.

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) after Moscow stated that they would not back financing a unified CIS military. A general staff was created in 1993. In 1994, 30 percent of the officer corps were ethnic Russians. The first commander was General Valentin Luk'yanov, an ethnic Ukrainian. In Russian sources Luk'yanov is listed as the commander of the 8th Guards Motor Rifle Division from 1985-91. On January 25, 2017, President Almazbek Atambayev officially founded the Kyrgyz Army, with Colonel Erlis Terdikbayev 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) 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Frunze Brigade (Koy-Tash) Independent Tank Regiment Machine Gun Battalions (Karakol) Artillery Battalions (Naryn) Engineering Battalion Signals Battalion Scorpion 25th Special Forces Brigade (Tokmok) Artillery Brigade Balykchynsky Brigade Specialized units

=== Southern Group of Forces === 68th Independent Mountain Rifle Brigade (Osh) Armored Battalion (Ala-Buka District) Machine Gun and Artillery Battalion Mountain Rifle Battalion "Batken" 24th Independent "Ilbirs" (Snow Leopard) Special Purpose Brigade (Kök-Janggak) Reconnaissance Battalion anti-aircraft artillery regiment parts and subdivisions of support, chemical protection, etc.

== Equipment == Small arms

Armor

References