| Country: | Lao People's Democratic Republic | ||||||
| Lao People's Armed Forces | |||||||
| Branches: | Lao People's Army Lao People's Navy Lao People's Liberation Army Air Force[1] | ||||||
| Headquarters: | Vientiane | ||||||
| Commander-In-Chief: | Defence and Public Security Commission
| ||||||
| Minister: | General Chansamone Chanyalath | ||||||
| Minister Title: | Minister of Defence | ||||||
| Commander Title: | Chief of the General Staff | ||||||
| Age: | 18- 45 years of age for compulsory military service | ||||||
| Conscription: | minimum 18 months | ||||||
| Manpower Data: | 2005 est. | ||||||
| Manpower Age: | 15–49 | ||||||
| Available: | 1,500,625 | ||||||
| Available F: | 1,521,116 | ||||||
| Fit: | 954,816 | ||||||
| Fit F: | 1,006,082 | ||||||
| Active: | 100,000 | ||||||
| Reserve: | 30,000 | ||||||
| Amount: | $18.5 million (2019) | ||||||
| Percent Gdp: | 0.5% (2006) | ||||||
| History: | First Indochinese War Laotian Civil War Insurgency in Laos Thai-Laotian Border War | ||||||
| Ranks: | Military ranks of Laos | ||||||
| Commander-In-Chief Title: | Governing body | ||||||
The Lao People's Armed Forces (LPAF; Lao: ກອງທັບປະຊາຊົນລາວ) or the Lao People's Army (LPA) is the armed forces of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the institution of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, who are charged with protecting the country.
The army of 29,100 is equipped with 30 main battle tanks. The army marine section, equipped with 16 patrol craft, has 600 personnel. The air force, with 3,500 personnel, is equipped with anti-aircraft missiles and 24 combat aircraft (no longer in service).
Militia self-defence forces number approximately 100,000 organised for local defence. The small arms utilised mostly by the Laotian Army are the Soviet AKM assault rifle, PKM machine gun, Makarov PM pistol, and the RPD light machine gun.
The LPAF is divided into four military regions, with its headquarters in Vientiane
The LPRP statute states that its political leadership over the military emanates from the LPRP Central Committee's Defence and Public Security Commission (DPSC) and is the highest decision-making institution regarding military and security affairs.[2]
See main article: Military history of Laos.
Until 1975, the Royal Lao Armed Forces were the armed forces of the Kingdom of Laos.
Serving one of the world's least developed countries, the Lao People's Armed Forces (LPAF) is small, poorly funded, and ineffectively resourced. Its mission focus is border and internal security, primarily in internal suppression of Laotian dissident and opposition groups.[1]
This includes the suppression of the 1999 Lao Students Movement of Democracy demonstrations in Vientiane, and in countering ethnic Hmong insurgent groups and other groups of Laotian and Hmong people opposing the one-party Marxist-Leninist LPRP government and the support it receives from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.[1]
Together with the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and the government, the Lao People's Army (LPA) is the third pillar of state machinery, and as such is expected to suppress political and civil unrest and similar national emergencies faced by the government in Vientiane. The LPA also has reportedly upgraded skills to respond to avian influenza outbreaks. At present, there is no major perceived external threat to the state and the LPA maintains very strong ties with the neighbouring Vietnamese military (2008).[1]
According to some journalists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), humanitarian and human rights organisations, the Lao People's Army has repeatedly engaged in egregious human rights violations and the practice of corruption in Laos.[3] [4] The LPAF and its military intelligence play a major role in the arrest, imprisonment and torture of foreign prisoners in Vientiane's notorious Phonthong Prison and the communist Lao gulag system where Australians Kerry and Kay Danes were imprisoned and where civic activist Sombath Somphone may be imprisoned following his arrest in December 2012.[5]
In 2013, attacks by the Lao People's Army against the Hmong people intensified, with soldiers killing four unarmed Hmong school teachers in addition to engaging in other human rights abuses according to the Lao Human Rights Council, the Centre for Public Policy Analysis and others.[6]
| Photo | Model | Type | Origin | Quantity | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tanks | ||||||
| T-72B1MS | Main battle tank | ~50[7] | ||||
| T-55 | Main battle tank | 85[8] | ||||
| PT-76 | Light tank | 25[9] | 30 were in service in 1996.[10] Currently 25 are in service. | |||
| APC/IFV | ||||||
| BTR-60PB | Armored personnel carrier | 70[11] | Currently 70 are in service. BTR-60s have been seen in service as recently as January 2019 | |||
| Armored personnel carrier | Unknown | [12] | ||||
| BTR-40 | Armored personnel carrier | 10[13] | ||||
| BRDM-2M | Armoured car | 20[14] | Upgraded BRDM-2M supplied by Russia in late 2018. At least 10 in service. | |||
| Light armoured vehicle/Light assault vehicle | ||||||
| Dima DMT5070XFB | Armored personnel carrier |  China | Unknown | |||
| Chinese Tiger 4x4 | Infantry mobility vehicle | China | Unknown | |||
| CS/VN3 4x4 | Infantry mobility vehicle | China | Unknown | |||
| Truck/Utility | ||||||
| KrAZ-6322 | Truck |  Ukraine | Unknown | |||
| Ural-4320 | Medium truck | Unknown | ||||
| GAZ-3308 | Medium truck | Unknown | ||||
| FAW Jiefang 141 | Medium truck | China | Unknown | |||
| Ural-43206 | Light truck | Unknown | ||||
| GAZ-66 | Platform truck | Unknown | ||||
| BAIC 4x4 vehicles | Military light utility vehicle | China | Unknown | |||
| UAZ-469 | Unknown | |||||
| BJ2022JC | Military light utility vehicle | China | Unknown | |||
| PTS | Tracked amphibious transport | Unknown | ||||
| Shaanxi SX2190 | Launched bridge | China | Unknown | |||
| Shaanxi SX2190 | Floating bridge | China | Unknown | |||
| Engineering and support vehicles | ||||||
| XCMG backhoe loader | Engineering vehicle | China | Unknown | |||
| XCMG excavator | Engineering vehicle | Unknown | ||||
| XCMG wheel loader | Engineering vehicle | Unknown | ||||
| XCMG XJY240WQ | Engineering vehicle | Unknown | ||||
| XCMG XJY240Z | Engineering vehicle | Unknown | ||||
| Photo | Model | Type | Origin | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dongfeng CS/SS4 | Self propelled mortar system | China | 14 | ||
| SR-5 | Multiple rocket launcher | China | 12 | ||
| BM-21 Grad | 122mm multiple rocket launcher | 32 | |||
| BM-14 | Multiple rocket launcher | 20 | |||
| 2S3 Akatsiya | 152mm self-propelled howitzer | Unknown | |||
| 122-HL-70 | 122mm self-propelled howitzer | 18 | |||
| PCL-09 | 122mm self-propelled howitzer | China | 12 | ||
| M-30 122 mm howitzer | Towed howitzers and guns | 15[15] | |||
| 122 mm howitzer 2A18 (D-30) | 20 | ||||
| 130 mm towed field gun M1954 (M-46) | |||||
| M114 155 mm howitzer | 12 | ||||
| 105mm (towed): M-101 | 20 | ||||
| 75mm (towed): M-116 pack | 10 | ||||
| Photo | Model | Type | Origin | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S-125 Neva/Pechora | Short-range SAM system | Unknown | |||
| 9K35 Strela-10 | Vehicle-mounted SAM system | Unknown | |||
| Yitian anti air system | Surface-to-air missile | China | Unknown | ||
| ZSU-23-4 Shilka | Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun | Unknown | |||
| Surface-to-air missile | Unknown | Received 100 launchers from Soviet Union in the 80s[18] | |||
| 37 mm automatic air defence gun M1939 (61-K) | Air defence gun | Unknown | |||
| 57 mm AZP S-60 | Automatic anti-aircraft gun | Unknown | |||
| ZPU | Auto anti-aircraft gun | Unknown | |||
| ZU-23-2 | Anti-aircraft gun | Unknown | |||
United States M2 4.2 inch mortarOn 17 May 2014, Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Douangchay Phichit was killed in a plane crash, along with other top ranking officials.[25] The officials were to participate in a ceremony to mark the liberation of the Plain of Jars from the former Royal Lao government forces.[26] Their Russian-built Antonov AN 74-300 with 20 people on board crashed in Xiangkhouang Province.[27]
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